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IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 




AN OROCHON WOMAN. 



{Frontispiece. 



IN THE 
UTTERMOST EAST 



BEING 

AN ACCOUNT OF INVESTIGATIONS AMONG THE 

NATIVES AND RUSSIAN CONVICTS OF THE 

ISLAND OF SAKHALIN, WITH NOTES . 

OF TRAVEL IN KOREA, SIBERIA, 

AND MANCHURIA 



BY 

CHARLES H. HAWES 




WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS 



NEW YORK 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

153-157 FIFTH AVENUE 
1904 






» • • 

• • ••< 



*• 



Go 

THE GREAT AND ALL POWERFUL 

PAL NI VOOKH AND TOL NI VOOKH 

THIS TRIBUTE 



PREFACE 

MANY books on Siberia have appeared during the last 
two decades, most of which fall into one of two categories ; 
the earlier, into what we may label "exile literature," and 
the later, " Siberian railway sketches." 

The present work belongs in part to both of these 
classes, but deals chiefly with a portion of Siberia far 
beyond the terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway — the 
little-known island of Sakhalin. Such a terra incognita 
has Sakhalin been in the history of exploration, that until 
the year 1849 it was believed to be a peninsula even by 
the Russians ; and six years later, in 1855, an English 
naval commander was outwitted owing to the prevailing 
ignorance of its insularity.* 

It is therefore not surprising that, even as late as this 
twentieth century, I should have been the first English 
traveller to explore the northern interior. The sources 
of our knowledge of Sakhalin, even in Russian, are few, 
and in English, if little has been heard of the convicts 
there, nothing has been written about the Gilyak and 
Orochon natives. With the expansion of the penal settle- 
ments, and the future, though not impending, development 
of the resources of the island, must follow the decay of the 

* See pos^ p. 100. 
vii 



viii PREFACE 

native in the presence of the white man. Already the 
former is modifying or abandoning his religious rites and 
ceremonies. It therefore behoved me to place these on 
record before they became lost to the investigator or buried 
in tradition. 

If in the course of the narrative faunal and floral 
species have been noted, this is only what every traveller 
owes to the scientist and the ever-increasing body of 
students. At the same time no one regrets more than I 
do, that I was so inadequately equipped for my task 
among almost unknown peoples and amid strange physical 
conditions. 

Of the faulty state of the penal administration, and the 
unfortunate condition of the "exile-settlers" described in 
these pages, it is devoutly to be hoped that in any future 
investigations no trace may be found. At the same time 
a word of warning is due, lest the reader should found a 
generalization for Siberia upon this particular settlement. 
Sakhalin is the colony to which all Russia's worst criminals 
are despatched, and the very name of the island is banned 
in St. Petersburg. Moreover, it is a far cry to the capital 
— the sign-post in front of the post-office at Alexandrovsk 
says 10,172 versts (6752 miles) — and the threads of control 
cannot be pulled tight. Since the publication of Mr. George 
Kennan's two volumes,* great improvements have been 
made in the conditions of prisoners, throughout Siberia, 
not excepting Sakhalin ; but that island still lags, as ever, 
many years behind the average penal settlement on the 
mainland. 

In Chapter VI. will be found a brief resume of the 
* " Siberia and the Exile System." 



PREFACE ix 

history and general features of Sakhalin. The rest of the 
book, including the notes on Korea and Manchuria, consists 
mainly of a personal narrative. It makes no claim to 
an exhaustive account of Sakhalin or the neighbouring 
regions, for the author's object has been to place before 
the reader pictures. Incidents, trivial in themselves, illus- 
trate and bring home to the mind the everyday life of 
native and white man in this far eastern world, more 
effectively than any detailed statement of habits and 
customs. 

The incognito of five or six persons who figure in the 
narrative has been preserved. Courtesy, if not fairness, 
to certain exiles and officials demanded this; and not to 
have done so could have served no good purpose, and 
perhaps embarrassed or injured them. Should this book 
find its way to Sakhalin or Eastern Siberia, these persons 
will be recognized, and, indeed, two or three of them are 
well-known in European Russia. 

My thanks are due first of all to Mr. X., my interpreter 
on the island of Sakhalin, a man of rank and education 
and a convict, without whom these investigations could 
never have been made. A few days before these words 
were penned, I received a letter telling of his escape to 
Japan — after many exciting experiences — " packed up in 
a cupboard." 

To Mr. Ellinsky, I am also deeply indebted, not only 
for the meteorological records of Alexandrovsk, but for 
many notes, which he had made on the subject of the 
natives. 

In confirming my own observations of the fauna and 
flora of the island, I have derived assistance from the 



x PREFACE 

work of two St. Petersburg professors, A. M. Nikolsky 
and Fr. Schmidt. 

In the matter of illustrations, I have a like pleasant 
duty to fulfil. Those appearing in the text have been 
sketched from articles in my possession, but the plates 
are in all cases from photographs. For those not taken 
by myself I am indebted to Mr. A. von Friken, Inspector 
of Agriculture on the island of Sakhalin, to Mr. Kuznetsov 
and to Mr. Ellinsky. For seven out of the eight (the first 
was by the author) forming the remarkable and unique 
series of the bear fete, I can only here record my thanks 
to one whom I met on the island, but who wishes to 
remain anonymous. 

Cambridge, 

October, 1903. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

List of Illustrations xvii 

Glossary xxi 

Corrigenda xxix 

CHAPTER I 
FROM NAGASAKI TO GENSAN 

Bound for the Russian Empire — A dangerous coast — Korea a land of 
mystery — Where are the 11,000,000? — Fusan — City gentlemen 
from mud-huts — The site of a great invasion — Gensan — A difficult 
arithmetical problem — 800 mung for a pair of hinges ... I 

CHAPTER II 

AT VLADIVOSTOK 

Russia, Japan, and Korea — Vladivostok — Siberian hotels — Search for an 

ice-free port — Tariff imposition and its results — Difficulties of travel 15 

CHAPTER III 

FROM VLADIVOSTOK TO KHABAROVSK 

The railway journey — The Ussuri region — The terrible massacre at 

Blagovestchensk — Stories of eye-witnesses — Khabarovsk . . 30 

CHAPTER IV 

ON THE AMUR 

A lonely post — On the broad bosom of the Amur — Village scenes — 
A 2000-mile sledge journey — Nikolaevsk — A visit to the prison — 
A night affray — "If he moves, shoot him" — Bound for Sakhalin 
at last 48 

xi 



xii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER V 
NIKOLAEVSK TO ALEXANDROVSK 

PAGE 

A treacherous passage — A lonely coast — Sakhalin at last — I am put 
under guard — Am I a spy? — Strange story of an ex-convict mer- 
chant — A drunken host to the rescue — The terrible deed of a 
student — Alexandrovsk — An interview with the Governor — A ride 
to Arkovo and a warning — Armed outlaws — The mail held up — 
Preparations for a 750-mile journey 74 

CHAPTER VI 
THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN 

History of the discovery of the island — Captain Vries in search of the 
"Gout en Silverycke eylant" — Believed to be a peninsula — The 
Jesuit Fathers' quaint reports — How the island got its name — La 
Perouse's discoveries — Captain Nevelsky settles the question of 
its insularity — Native legends of a deluge — Was it a peninsula ? — 
A forest-clad land, the home of the great brown bear — 55 below 
zero — Mails by dog-sledge across the frozen sea — A mystery of 
the ice-bound straits — Geology — Strange races — Who were the 
aborigines ? — Dwellers in pits — The Russian occupation . . 93 

CHAPTER VII 
ALEXANDROVSK TO SLAVO 

Into the interior by kibitka — A "Free-command" — Miserable crops 
— A tragedy by the wayside — The famous Robin Hood of Sakhalin 
and his escapades — On the track of brodyagi . . . .118 

CHAPTER VIII 
SLAVO TO ADO TIM 

A start is made on the 600-mile canoe journey — A settlement of ill-repute 
— So-called " civil marriage " — A terrible environment for children 
— Doubtful quarters . . . . . . . 135 



CONTENTS xiii 

CHAPTER IX 
ON THE RIVER TIM 

PAGE 

" Each facing our man with arms loaded " — A notorious thief and Ivan 
Dontremember — An ex-naval captain shot — A native's idea of 
measurement — A village possessing seven bears — Dug-outs in course 
of making .......... 148 

CHAPTER X 
TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM 

" A departed spirit " — The big brown bear — Salmon for the spearing — 
Sun-dried fish — Eagle's wings to aid the flight of the soul of the 
murdered — We pass brodyagi encamped — I miss 5000 rubles — We 
join a bear in a seal hunt — A night in the swamps . . .163 

CHAPTER XI 

IN THE BAY OF NI 

A curious coast-line — Gilyak huts and their origin — An interior — 
"Give something to the god" — The great bear fete — A unique 
band and artiste — The Cham's adjuration — The bear not a pious 
Gilyak — Signification of the festival 186 

CHAPTER XII 
CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 

An Orochon village — Strange surroundings — A monopolist — Prepara- 
tions for a great feast — The New Year's festival — Barter — Our 
host "the richest man in the world" — The value of a needle — 
Petroleum lakes — The tundra — An unwritten tragedy . . . 204 

CHAPTER XIII 
WITH THE "CHAM" AT CHAIVO 

An "inter-continental" boat-race — The Cham and the Shaman — 
Exorcising the evil spirit — Why the Gilyaks are without written 
characters — The journeys of a soul after death— Strange rites at 
the funeral pyre ......... 228 



xiv CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XIV 
NIVO 

PAGE 

The powerful Tol ni vookh — Avi fauna — The great sea-holiday — The 
Black Killer— Fish in " posts "—The Grand Old Beggar— A "great 
city" — The "Lord Mayor" — Polygamy — An elopement — Gilyak 
maiden's song — A scorned lover — Curious marriage ceremony — 
Causes of the decrease of the Gilyaks ..... 248 

CHAPTER XV 
FROM NIVO TO IRR KIRR 

* 

An aristocrat — A party intent on buying a bear — Five brodyagi on our 
path — A memorable escape — A two months' campaign — Canni- 
balism — Migration of birds — Seal added to the menu — Tol ?ii 
vookh delivers us — Tracking a bear — A winter duel with Bruin — 
Reindeer hunting in the bur an . . . . . . .277 

CHAPTER XVI 
A RIDE THROUGH THE "TAIGA" 

Irr Kirr — The bears' constitutional — A salmon for id. — Ado Tim — 
The difficulties of riding in a telyega — Miserable settlements — 
An exciting ride — The 19th of the month — Rikovsk prison — 
Sophie Bliiffstein — An extraordinary career — Refuge from a storm 
— A convict home ......... 300 

CHAPTER XVII 
SCENES AND PERSONS IN ALEXANDROVSK 

Plans for departure — A broken cable — Rumours of war with Japan — 
A reply telegram in nineteen days — Chief buildings of Alexan- 
drovsk — Classification of prisoners — Flogging — The plet — Putrid 
prison rations — The painful story of Mrs. A. — Twenty years in 
the dungeons — " Who are you ? " — Arrival of prisoners — A tale of 
murders .......... 327 



CONTENTS xv 

CHAPTER XVIII 
STORIES OF PRISONERS 

PAGE 

A show of arms necessary — A murderer with nineteen victims — I am 
warned — Black crosses by the wayside — "What do you think of 
Patrin?" — A fearful struggle — A saintly old prisoner — Eight 
years' hard labour for stealing a loaf — The "game" of the super- 
intendent and the " exile-settlers " 355 

CHAPTER XIX 
STORIES OF CRIMES IN ALEXANDROVSK 

Chinese prisoners — An armed escort — Church service — A night for 
deeds of darkness — Tunnelling and firing houses — An employer 
of assassins — Sakhalin ; the Utopia of no taxes — The power of 
the ruble 372 

CHAPTER XX 

SAKHALIN TO VLADIVOSTOK 

The Russian priest — The prisoner's hope — Sister de Mayer — Her story 
— Heroic efforts — Her solution of the unemployed problem — 
Sakhalin coal — Farewell to the island — De Castries Bay — I am to 
cross Manchuria as a M book-keeper " ..... 388 

CHAPTER XXI 
ACROSS MANCHURIA 

A brief historic sketch — Area and resources — Railway route — Scenery 
— Journey in a construction train — Kharbin — Difficulty of finding 
the train — The steppe — Approaching Tsitsikar — A poor railroad . 407 

CHAPTER XXII 

MANCHURIA TO CHITA 

The river Nonni — Overtaking the train — A Chinese village — The 
Khingans — A two and a half days' stop — Six thousand miles of 
snow — Curious dwellings — Manchuria station — Tickets obtained 
under difficulties — Struggles at buffets — Chita .... 428 

b 



xvi CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XXIII 
TRANS-BAIKALIA TO MOSCOW 

PAG 

The Buriats— Nomads— Lamas— Gelung Nor Lamaserai— A "living 
god " — Mystery play — English missionaries — Lake Baikal — Irkutsk 

Pictures en route— Boundary of two continents— The Ural 

mountains — Isolation of villages 44^ 



Index 



4^5 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



TO FACE PAGE 

An Orochon Woman Frontispiece 

The "Bazar," Fusan, Korea 8 

The Korean Post-office, Gensan 10 

Korean Bureau Hinges. Korean Hat-box. Korean Bamboo 

Under-vest and Horsehair Cuffs 12 / 

Members of the Gold Tribe 35 

"Trenches were hastily dug around the Town" (Blago- 

vestchensk) 38 

Statue of Count Muraviev-Amursky and House of Governor- 
general Grodekov, Khabarovsk 44 ^ 

Striking off the Fetters 68 

The Governor of Sakhalin 85 

The " Pristan " (Jetty), Alexandrovsk 90 

An Attack on the Post. Repairing the Bridge cut by the 

" Brodyagi " 90 

Alexandrovsk Prison and Offices 91 

A Map of Sakhalin 93 

Map by d'Anville, 1737. By the " Isle du Fl(euve) Noir," is 

meant Sakhalin 98 

Arrival of the Dog -sledge Mail from the Mainland . . 108 
10,186 Versts to St. Petersburg. Departure of the Dog-sledge 

Mail for the Mainland no 

A Sakhalin Ainu Family at Home 114 

Map of Northern Sakhalin 120 ' 

A Sakhalin Murderer 129 

The Famous Barratasvili 129 

Reading the Death Sentence 132 v 

xvii 



xviii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

TO FACE PAGE / 

A Sakhalin Murderess . . 141 

A Gilyak Tracker of "Brodyagi" 154 / 

Gilyak Wife and Maiden 158 v - 

Gilyak Storehouses for Dried Fish J . 174 J 

Gilyak Summer Hut 192 v 

The Bear Fete 196, 198 .. 

Feeding Bruin {p. 195) — " He emerges too readily " (p. 197) 
— "The Gilyaks proceed to muzzle him" {p. 197) — "Led 
to the Hut of his Owner" {p. 197)— "To the Strains of a 
Unique Band" (p. 197) — "Left tied up to ruminate over 
his Position " {p. 198) — " A Few . . . shoot Blunt, Wooden- 
ended Arrows" {p. 199) — "The Arrow had missed the 
Heart" {p. 200) 

An Orochon Man (Mainland) 206 * 

" Our Supper of Fish was spitted before the Fire " . . . 233 - 

A Tungus "Shaman" 235 4 

Setting out for an Afternoon Call 252 

A Group of Tungus 257 / 

An Unrecorded Tragedy (see p. 227) 259 ' 

Pillaniitsich, or the "Grand old Beggar" 259 , 

The " Lord Mayor " (on the left) and the two " Lady 

Mayoresses " of Nivo 272 / 

" By the cleared Track from Onor to Nay-ero "... 280 

The Village of Hamdasa II 284 1 

Vasiliv, " The Cannibal " 286 % 

Off to the Bear-hunt 294 

A Sakhalin Bridge . . . 312 / 

A Gang of Murderers, of whom the Four to the Left were hanged 316 
The Famous Sophie Bliiffstein, or "Golden Hand," being 

Manacled . . 320 

The Stockade of the Alexandrovsk Prison .... 324 

A Gang from the " Testing " Prison Road-making . . . 337 
The " Reformatory " Prison, Alexandrovsk. The " Testing " 

Prison is in the Background 338 

Convicts under Guard hauling Logs 339 . 

Chained to Wheelbarrows Night and Day . . . . 340 
The "Kabila" (Flogging Bench), "Rozgi" (Birch rods), and 

the " Plet " at Rikovsk 34 * i 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xix 

TO FACE PAGE 

Golinsky, the present " Palach," or Executioner, with the 

" Plet," Alexandrovsk 342 

Political Exiles, Rikovsk . . . . , . . . 344 

The Arrival of Convicts from Russia 348 

A Night Watchman, Alexandrovsk 358 

A Desperate Character 363 / 

The Dark Cells (or " Cachots Noirs "), Alexandrovsk Prison . 365 V 
" In the Market-place are several Ramshackle Shelters " . 386 y 

Farewell to Sakhalin 400 „ 

Inhabitants of Kirin, Manchuria 412 \f 

The Author 429 

Chinese General at Tsitsikar receives the Russian Governor- 
general Grodekov 436 

A Buriat 44 1 ' 

Buriat Family and "Yurta" (Tent) 447 

Buriat Wife and Maiden in Festive Attire .... 448 y 
The Late Kan-po, or Grand Lama of the Buriats . . . 449 
Taranatha, a Buriat " Khubilgan," or " Living Buddha " . 450 
The Actors (Lamas) in the Mystery Play . . . .452 

Summons to the Temple Service 453 ■ 

Baikal Station on the Lake, with the two Ice-breakers . . 456 
At a Wayside Station, Trans-Siberian Railway . . .461 
"An Obelisk bearing the Inscription on one Side Asia, and 

on the other Europe " .461 

Map of North-East Asia At end 



GLOSSARY 



An adequate transliteration of Russian words, giving their exact 
phonetic equivalents in English seems to me impossible, and the 
following is an admittedly faulty attempt; yet, such as it is, its 
value will be increased to the reader by a few words on the 
pronunciation of the transliterations. The following remarks may 
be taken to apply not only to the Russian but also to the Gilyak 
and Ainu words. 

The vowel sounds have the value of the Italian 

a is pronounced as in father. 

e „ „ „ th^re. 

i „ „ ee „ feed, 

o „ „ „ cod. 

u „ ,, oo „ food. 

The letter i in the following transliterations, B/t, Gotovz, 
Isp/tuermkh, Ispztovat, Kab/la, Rzba and V/, has the sound of 
a shortened ui. 

Double vowels are not diphthongs, but are pronounced separ- 
ately, e.g. Due and Mamie (names of Sakhalin villages) are 
respectively Doo-e (like the French town Douai) and Ma-noo-e. 

Of the consonants g is always hard, and s as in assess, but 
never like z; ch is pronounced as in chmch> and never as in 
German ; shtch as shed ch in famij'^? ^ild ; and finally zh 
as z in a^ure. 

RUSSIAN WORDS. 

Ale'n, plural attni . Deer, used in Sakhalin to denote reindeer. 
Arestdnt, plural / . Prisoner. 

Artel .... A guild or workmen's association. 
Balshoy . . . Great. 

xxi 



XX11 



GLOSSARY 



Bdrin . 
Blin, i . 
Bog . 
Bdyka . 

Br&tsky 
Brodydga, i 



Budet 

Burdn 

Chat 

Chas 

Chto 

Dekdbr 

Desyatina, i 

Do 

Dokha . 



Dugd . 
Etape . 



Eto 

Familiya 
Gilydkskiy 
Gorbusha 



Gorod . 
Got6ui . 
Gre'cha . 

Gubirnski 
Gusinoy 

I . 

Ikona^ i 
Ikrd . 
Intellighiti 



Gentleman. 

Pancake. 

God. Dat. case, Bogn. 

" Pidgin" Russian (in the East) for "boy," 
i.e. waiter, etc. 

Fraternal. See p. 455, n. 

Vagabond, a passportless vagrant ; gener- 
ally in Eastern Siberia an escaped 
convict. 

Will be ; 3rd pers. sing, future of bit, to be. 

Snowstorm. 

Tea. 

Hour ; sey ckas, lit. this hour, immediately. 

What? 

December. 

Square measure = 27 acres (nearly). 

Till, to. Do or da svzddmya. See sviddnie. 

A term current in Eastern Siberia for a 
long and ample coat lined inside and 
outside with fur. 

An arc, hence the bow-shaped yoke span- 
ning the shafts. 

Prisoners' resting-place en route, where 
they sleep two consecutive nights. 
A fiolu dtafie accommodates them for 
one night only. 

This, that. 

Family, surname. 

Adj., of or belonging to the Gilyaks. 

A term current in Eastern Siberia, Kam- 
chatka, and North America, for Salmo 
proteus. 

Town, city. 

Ready. 

Buckwheat, generally cooked or steamed 
like boiled rice. 

Local (gaol). 

An adj. formed from Gus, & goose. Gusi- 
noy ozero, Goose Lake. 

And. " 

Image, sacred picture. 

Caviare, roe of sturgeon. 

The educated classes. 



GLOSSARY 



XXlll 



Ispittiemikh . 



Ispravlydyushtchikhsya 



Isprdvnik 
Izvostchik, i 
Kabargd 
Kabila . 

Kak . 
Kd?nera, i . 
Ka7iddlnaya 



Kantselydriya 
Kavkdz 
Kdya . 

Khaldt, i 



Khlyeb 
Kibitka 

Kita 



Kitdesky 
Knut . 
Kopyiyka 

Kto . 
Litndri' . 
Lyodokol 
Loshad, i 
Lund . 
Mdlenkiy 
Mdtushka 



Razrydd ispittiemikh, the division or cate- 
gory of those being tested ; " testing " 
prison. Gen. plural of the pres. part, 
pass, of ispitovat, to test. 

Gen. plural of pres. part, of the reflective 
verb ispravlyatsya ; razrydd isprav- 
lyayushtchikhsya, the division or cate- 
gory of those (prisoners) being re- 
formed. " Reformatory " prison. 

Chief of the police in a district. 

Cabman, or driver of hired vehicle. 

Musk-deer. 

Lit. mare, hence a bench to which the 
prisoner about to be flogged is strapped. 

How, in what manner. 

A room, a prison-ward. 

Fern, of adj. kanddlnoy, chained. Kan- 
ddlnaya yurmd, lit. chained prison, 
the prison of the chained. 

Chancellerie. 

The Caucasus. 

An Eastern Siberian term for the driver 
of a ndrta. 

Lit. a morning gown, but used for the 
long overcoat worn by the prisoners 
in summer. 

Bread, a loaf. 

A rude little four-wheeled vehicle with a 
seat for two behind the driver. 

A term current in Eastern Siberia, Kam- 
chatka, and North America, for Salmo 
lagocephalus. 

Chinese, from Kitdi, China. 

Whip. See p. 340. 

A kopyek ; one-hundredth part of a ruble, 
or one farthing in value. 

Who ? 

Estuary. 

Ice-breaker. 

Horse. 

The moon. 

Little, small. 

Dim. of mat, mother, mother dear ! 



XXIV 



GLOSSARY 



Maya . 


Adj. fern, of moy, my. 


Medvyet 


Lit. honey eater, bear. 


Mishka 


Colloquial for bear. 


Muzhik, i 


Peasant. 


Nachdlnik . 


Superintendent or chief, whether of an 




officer or men. 


Ndrta . 


An Eastern Siberian term for a dog- 




sledge. 


Ne 


Not. 


Nichevo 


Nothing, it matters not. 


Nyet . 


No. 


Oblast . 


Province or " territory." 


Okrug, i 


District. 


Okruzhni 


Adj. from okrug, of a district. . 


Ostrov . 


Island. 


Ozero . 


Lake. 


Paldch 


Executioner, flogger. 


Pardsha 


Excrement bucket. 


PazhdVsta, fiazhdluista 


, Please, if you please. 


Peresilni 


A forwarding prison. See p. 66. 


Pirashok, pi. pirashki . 


Pasty, dough-nut with minced meat inside. 


Plet . 


Whip. See p. 340. 


Pdlu- . 


Half. 


Pos(s)elenets 


" Exile-settler." 


Poselenie 


Exile-settlement. 


Prdzdnik 


Holiday, feast-day. 


Pristan 


Wharf, jetty. 


Prolyotka 


Small Victoria (carriage). 


Pud . 


40 lbs. Russian, or 36*11 lbs. English. 


Razrydd 


Section, category. 


Razyezd 


Lit. passing place. Kitdesky razyezd, 




Chinese junction. 


Riba . 


Fish. 


Rozga, i 


Rod, birch rods. 


Rubdshka 


Shirt. 


Rubl . 


A ruble. The exchange value fluctuates 




about 2 s. id. 


Sabdka 


Dog. 


Samovar 


Kettle in the form of a tea urn. 


Sdzhen, i 


Lineal measurement = 7 ft. 


Serditiy 


Angry. 


Sey .... 


This. 


Shtchi . 


Cabbage soup. 



GLOSSARY 



XXV 



Shuba, i 


Fur coat, generally applied to the peasants' 




sheepskin coats. 


Skolko . 


How much ? 


Skoro . 


Quickly. 


Sldva . 


Glory. Sldva Bogtt, thank God. 


Smotritel 


Superintendent. 


Sdlntse . 


Sun. 


Stakdn 


Glass, tumbler. 


Stdntsiya, sii 


Station, post- station 


Stdrosta 


Bailiff, headman of a village. 


Stoit 


Costs, or is worth. 


Stryelydy 


Shoot ! Imperat. 2nd pers. sing, of 




stryelyat, to shoot. 


Stufidy . 


Go away ! Imperat. 2nd pers. sing of 




stufi&t, to go. 


Sviddnie 


Meeting, da sviddniya, till we meet again. 


Taiga . 


The Siberian forest or jungle. 


Takoy . 


Such, chto eto takoy, what is it ? 


Tain 


There. 


Telyega, i 


Cart. See p. 308. 


Teterev 


Capercailzie. 


Tishe . 


Gently ! 


Trdika, i 


Team of three horses abreast. 


Tundra 


The northern belt of Siberia, a treeless 




waste of swamps. See p. 224. 


Tyurmd 


Prison. 


Tyotushka . 


Auntie, dim. of tyotka, aunt. 


Tyuleniy 


Adj. from tyulen, a seal, Ostrov tyuleniy, 




Seal Island. 


Ukdz . 


Edict, Imperial proclamation. 


Versta . 


A verst = 3500 feet, or '663 mile nearly. 


Vi 


You. 


Yamshtchik . 


Post-boy, but here driver of a telyega. 


Yukola 


A Kamchatkan term for dried or cured 




fish, used generally throughout Siberia. 


Yurta, i 


Nomad's tent. 


Zaktiska 


Snack, hors-d'ceuvre. 


Zaryd , 


Dawn. 


Zdr&vstvuete 


Good morning ! 2nd pers. plural imperat. 




of Zdrdvstvovat, to be in good health. 


Zndyu . 


I know. 


Zolotnik) i . 


A weight, one-ninety-sixth of a Russian lb., 




or '15 oz. avoirdupois. 



XXVI 



GLOSSARY 



GILYAK WORDS 

(Mainly forms of the Tim and Tro Gilyaks, but including some 
in use by the West Coast tribe). 



Caur (kauf) 

Cha or chai . 
Chak vi hunch 
Cham . 

Cham-gash . 
Cham-long {Kham 
Ch'khnai 

Chookh 
CJiuff . 
Dzhakho 

Gazhu . 
Ge?iich . 

Hakh pisakh 



I . 

Jigind . 
Kakh . 
Kan-hi 
Karr long 
Kashk . 
Kau 

Kaukray 
Kiwi, pi. a 
Kh?m . 
Kikkik . 
Kiskh . 



Kiskh ni much 
Klenu . 
Koiba . 



■long) 



Iron-tipped sticks for guiding and arrest- 
ing the dog-sledges. 
A bay. 

See Tol vi hunch. 
Medicine-man of the Gilyaks. See pp. 

234-5- 
Seal-harpoon of great length. 
Eagle month. On Sakhalin February. 
Wooden images used by the cham in 

exorcising. See p. 237. 
Thou, God ! 
Bear. 
Knife ; used as the men's hunting and 

general purposes knife. 
A remedy. A piece of a wasp's nest. 
To buy. Umgu genich, to buy {i.e. to 

marry) a wife. 
Woman's wadded hat with lappets, from 

Manchuria. 
River. 

To quit a hut. See p. 191. 
Bear-spear. 

Haddock (Gadus aglefinus or Vachnya). 
Crow month. On Sakhalin March. 
Lily {Fritillaria Kamchatkensis). 
To the right (hand). 
No, nothing. 
Clan. 
Quiver. 

Hooper swan (Cygnus musicus). 
God, the creator or judge of good and 

evil, but used also in a vague and 

general way for all gods. 
God give. 

The council of village elders. 
Rings (finger). 



GLOSSARY 



XXVll 



Koscha 


A tambourine covered with fish-skins. 


Ku 


Arrows. 


Kuni .... 


" Many Fish and Bears River," a tributary 




of the Tun. 


Kusind 


To enter a hut. See p. 191. 


Kuvi .... 


" Many Sables River," a tributary of the 




Tim. 


Langerr 


Hair seal {Phoca vitulina). 


Locha .... 


Russians. 


Marikh 


Fish-spear. 


Meskh .... 


Earrings 


Mligh-vo 


The " other world " village whither the 




spirits of those who died a natural 




death journey. 


Moshun-tomash . 


Field camomile. 


Nakh .... 


The bench that surrounds three sides of 




the Gilyak hut. 


Ni vookh , 


A god or lord. See Pal ni vookh, etc. 


Nookh-tses . 


Carved bone needle-cases. 


Olf-rega 


A remedy. Squirrel's tail. 


Ornish 


The name by which the Orochons are 




known to the Gilyaks. 


Paff .... 


Box in which the ashes of deceased are 




placed. 


Pal . 


Mountain, forest. 


/W «/ vookh 


Lord or god of the (mountain or) forest. 


Pal ni vookh chi-sonch 


The prayer to the lord of the forest (Sable 




holiday). 


Pal rush 


Forest daimones. 


Pilencho 


Halibut (Pleuronedes hippoglossus). 


Pis .... 


Heracleum barbatum. 


Pore! .... 


Stop! 


Puchi .... 


Tangle seaweed {Laminaria esculenta). 


Punch .... 


Bow. 


/?<# .... 


The tiny hut for the temporary sojourn 




of the soul of the deceased. 


i?*'£ .... 


Cuckoo {Cuculus canorus). 


Ru-er .... 


Cousins. 


TVzM / . 


On! 


7z7 .... 


Forward ! 


7Y#z .... 


Cranberry. The name given to one of 




the two great rivers of Sakhalin. 


Tin kirn 


A rude fiddle of one string. 



XXV111 



GLOSSARY 



Tlo . 

Tol . 
Tolf an 



To If tuf 
Tol ni vookh 
Tol vi hunch 
Torif . 
Tulf an 



Tul-noss 

Tur .... 

Tur ni vookh 

Tu-tut .... 

Tzakh .... 

Uich .... 

Uichka rush 

Umgu, or ungit dzhakho 

Vibuis .... 

Vo 

Yu-ru .... 



Heaven, whither the spirits of the 
murdered and suicides fly direct. 

Water. 

Summer year, which includes spring and 
summer, and is inaugurated by the 
seal hunt and Tol vi hiinch. 

Gilyak summer hut. 

Lord or god of water (sea and rivers). 

" Water or sea holiday." 

Gilyak winter hut. 

Winter year, which includes autumn and 
winter, and is inaugurated by the sable 
holiday, Pal ni vookh chi-sonch. 

A remedy. A piece of a squirrel's ear. 

Fire. 

Lord or god of fire. 

Eastern turtle-dove ( Turtur orientalis). 

A twig with whittled shavings at the top. 

Unlucky, ill-omened. 

Water daimones. 

Woman's (fish and domestic) knife. 

Belt with gunpowder, skin flask, shot 
horn, flint and tinder pouch, etc. 

A village. 

Automatic bow-and-arrow snare. 



Chi 
Inao 

Kotan 
Nai 
Poro 
Toi 



AINU WORDS 

Baked or dried. 

A twig with whittled shavings depending 

from the top. 
A village. 
River. 

Great. Poronai, great river. 
Clay. Toichi, makers of baked clay. See 

pp. 1 14-5. 



CORRIGENDA 



Page 4, line 34, for "paintings" read "painting." 

7, ,, 10, for "haus-frau" read "hausfrau." 

19, ,, 2, for " tchai" read " ckai." 

36, ,, 9 and 14, for "Orotchons" read "Orochons." 

44, ,, 2 and 7, for " droshkies and droshky" read " drozhkies 

and drozhky." 

44, ,, 31, for " Kamtchatka " read "Kamchatka." 

53, ,, 24, for "Niuchen" read "Nu-chen." 

57 > >> S> f or " stantsiyas" read " stantsii." 

66, ,, 18 and 21, for "perisilni" read " peresihii." 

81, >> 3St for " ptoletka" read " prolyotka." 

82, ,, 27, for " iiachnaliiik" read " nachalnik" 
95, omit first note at foot of page. 
99, ,, 22, for "Gevrilov" read " Gavrilov." 
99. n 25, for " Nevelsky " read " Nevelskoy." 

ic>3> >. 3i for " amuretise" read " amure?ise." 

109, ,, 11, for "cazir" read " kaur." 

no, ,, 2, for " Tack/ tach/" read " Takhf takh /" 

i x 5» m 9> for "Behring" read "Bering." 

116, ,, 16, for "Orotchons" read "Orochons." 

11 9' >> 35 1 f or " turmi" read " tyiirmi" 

123, note at foot, for peasant read "peasant." 

150, line 12, for "Muraviev" read "Lazarev." 

150, ,, 21, for " turma" read " tyurma." 

152, I, 9, omit " imya." 

176, ,, 4, for " Ostrova" read " Ostrov." 

J 76i 11 5i for "latter" read "hair seal." 

181, ,, 5, for "reach" read "beach." 

196, ,, 23, for "(species of wild rhubarb, I believe)" read 

" {Heracletim barbatum and Laminaria escule?ita).' 

207, ,, 29, omit "as in the picture." 

210, ,, 1 5, for "dumbfounded" read " dumfounded. 

221, ,, 20, for "Orotchon" read "Orochon." 

226, ,, 6, for "Cham-long" read " Kham-long." 

229, ,, 13, for "is" read "are." 

246, ,, 1, for " mestck" read " meskh." 

263, ,, 18, for " Pilsudsky" read " Pilsudski." 

272, ,, 35, for " kos-cha" read " kanga. 



xxix 



XXX 



CORRIGENDA 



Page 297, line 33, for " kabaga" read " kabarga." 

302, ,, 19, for " medviet" read " medvyet." 

331, ,, 25, for "Muraviev" read " Lazarev." 

338, „ 15, for "turma" read " tyurma." 

354, ,, 25, for " turma" read "tyurma." 

358, ,, 13, for "proletka" read " prolyotka." 

364, last line, for "pounced upon, arrested him" read "pounced 

upon and arrested him." 

393, line 20, for "turma" read "tyurma." 

398, ,, 34, for "bunks" read "bunkers." 

4 X 5> »» 34» f or "has" read "had." 

420, ,, 18, for lt proletka" read "prolyotka." 

423, ,, 2 of note, for " Hey-lung-kiang " read " Heh-lung-kiang.' 

442, ,, 18 and 30, for " pirishki" read " pirashki." 

449, ,, 16, for "Verkne" read "Verkhne." 

457. »• 33 » f or " lodokol" read " lyodokol." 



IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

CHAPTER I 
FROM NAGASAKI TO GENSAN 

Bound for the Russian Empire — A dangerous coast — Korea a land of 
mystery — Where are the 11,000,000? — Fusan — City gentlemen 
from mud-huts — The site of a great invasion — Gensan — A difficult 
arithmetical problem — 800 mung for a pair of hinges. 

AFTER many wanderings in the Orient, I found 
myself at length on board a Japanese steamer 
at Nagasaki, bound for Vladivostok. 
There was some stir in the harbour as a Russian vessel, 
filled with homeward-bound troops from Port Arthur, 
steamed slowly in and let go her anchor. Rumour had 
it that this was the Yaroslav, of the Russian "Volunteer 
Fleet," bound for the island of Sakhalin with its sad freight 
of convicts, but it was not so, for she had not left Odessa 
then, and more than two months were to elapse before I 
was to see her and her cargo. All doubt was set at rest 
when the Russian Tommy was seen in his great jack-boots 
wandering through the narrow streets of the Japanese 
town, lost in amazement at the dapper little light-hearted 
people, and their numberless shops gay with a thousand 
and one strange novelties. 

The last sampan had left our side, steam was up, and 
our bow turned to the west ere the setting sun warned us 

1 B 



2 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

to be alert. Even as we got under weigh a charming 
sight met our gaze. Far off, silhouetted against the sky, 
picturesque junks with spreading sail were returning 
through the golden gateway of the harbour. 

One by one great ironclads were passed, for the Powers 
were but slowly evacuating Peking, and here, as off Taku 
and in the Yang-tse-Kiang, the great battleships of Europe 
flew their different flags. The verdant and richly wooded 
slopes of Nagasaki harbour left behind, a respectable berth 
was given to the isle of Pappenberg (Japanese, Takoboko), 
which a mistaken tradition has assigned as the scene of 
the martyrdom of native Christians in the seventeenth 
century. 

Our course lay north-north-west, and as darkness set 
in, a pleasant surprise awaited those who, familiar with 
the coasts of China, Korea, and the Orient generally, gazed 
for the first time upon the coast-line of Japan by night. 
Hundreds, nay, thousands of twinkling lights like myriad 
glow-worms decked the shores, telling of busy villages and 
hinting at the populousness of Japan. The traveller re- 
cently arrived from the Philippines, Australia or Korea, 
and steaming by night through the Inland Sea, with its 
gaily lit shores, is as much taken aback as was the Suffolk 
farmer who, driving up to London, and struck by the sight 
of so many people as he reached Shoreditch, asked, " Be 
there a fair here to-day ? " 

The general reader, who thinks of New Zealand as 
separated from Australia by merely a channel instead 
of a 1200 knots' steam, probably makes the opposite 
mistake in the relative positions of Korea and Japan. 
Though by no means the nearest points, Nagasaki, from 
which I had started, and Fusan, for which I was bound, 
are only ioo knots apart, and even this distance is halved 
by the intermediate islands of Tsushima. " The Twins," 
as they are also called, have this peculiarity — that at 
low tide they form one island. Tsushima is beautifully 



FROM NAGASAKI TO GENSAN 3 

wooded and mountainous, possesses a magnificent natural 
harbour and promises to become a great health resort. 

Early on the following morning, the mountainous east 
coast of Korea, with its striking contrast to the low sand- 
flats of the western shores, broke upon our view ; but as 
I approached this, the south-eastern corner of the penin- 
sula, I missed the charming picture of a sea dotted with 
green islets, which one enjoys off the south-western coast. 

Several weeks earlier, in travelling from Chifu to Na- 
gasaki, our vessel had threaded its way for some hours 
through a maze of islands gay with patches of green 
barley and paddy fields, and the hill slopes dotted with 
tiny clusters of thatched huts. Suddenly a fog drove 
down upon us, darkness descended, and we were compelled 
to heave to. The next morning we awoke to find our- 
selves still in the net-work of verdant islands and barren 
rocks, some of which were but a stone's throw from our 
starboard bow. It was a difficult coast, only partially 
surveyed, and the scene of many a wreck — a coast rendered 
more dangerous by an entire absence of light-houses, a 
feature of modern civilization of which Korea is devoid. 

It was with keen expectation I looked forward to really 
setting foot in Korea, that land of mystery which lured 
the wanderer with its promises of secret surprises, and drew 
him with all the glamour of an unknown country. With 
such a feeling did I gaze upon the scene before me as we 
entered the port of Pusan, or rather Fusan, the Japanese 
name by which it is more generally known. 

The harbour, backed by great bluff hills, offers a 
sheltered anchorage. The least depth of the entrance 
at low-water springs is twenty-eight feet. There is 
a noticeable absence of trees, a barrenness accentuated 
by a clump or two of cryptomerias (Japanese cedars) 
brought over by the Japanese settlers voluntarily 
exiled from the land of their birth ; but this dearth of 
foliage was by no means displeasing to the visitor from 



4 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

Japan, for the breezy hills with their short grass, inviting 
to a run and a climb, were a pleasant contrast to the damp- 
ness and smell of the paddy fields and the suffocating 
closeness of the thickets one had left behind. 

But my surprise was great when I saw such an in- 
significant settlement. On maps and in statistics of 
Korea, the ports Fusan, Gensan, and Chemulpho loom 
large and important, and what now lay before us in the 
bay was a mere collection of thatched mud-huts. Such 
was the Korean " town " of Fusan ! In front of us was 
a busier settlement of several hundred Japanese homes, the 
Japanese Fusan or Sorio ; but if this was one of the first 
ports of Korea, where were the 11,000,000 of popula- 
tion, and what did they do for a living? It is true one 
heard much about the exports of rice, for Japan and 
Korea were almost on the eve of a quarrel, a bad harvest 
having determined the latter to consider the question 
of prohibiting the export of rice, a proceeding which 
threatened to spell famine for Japan. Mention was made 
also of gold, beans, seaweed, and ginseng (from Chemulpho), 
and figures told of an increasing trade. The import of 
foreign cottons and kerosene had grown so rapidly that it 
was within human possibility that this influx might disturb 
the immemorial reposefulness of the Korean character. 
Was not an economic upheaval possible when the peasant, 
largely dependent on the proceeds of his hemp crop, which 
he sold to native weavers, and his castor-oil beans, which 
went to native oil-refiners, found his means of livelihood 
rapidly going? But where were the signs of a great 
trade ? 

Another puzzle stared one in the face. What was to 
be made of the anomaly that this country claimed to have 
given Japan her art at the end of the sixteenth century ; 
that from that time Japanese paintings, faience,* and 

* It is interesting to note that in the village of Tsuboya, in the 
Japanese province of Satsuma, the manufacture of the famous "Satsuma 



FROM NAGASAKI TO GENSAN 5 

metal-work took on a new lease of life ; and yet, in a 
short campaign from 1592 to 1598, the latter nation so abso- 
lutely crushed the former that she presents the lamentable 
spectacle of to-day ? 

The Japanese settlement lies at the foot of abruptly 
sloping hills of imposing height, and bears a no distant 
resemblance to the site of Hobart in Tasmania, though 
the latter is situated at the base of a much deeper inlet. 
By the kindly intervention of the Japanese ex-Consul of 
Hankau, who was bound for his new post at Gensan, 
kagoSy or palanquins, were secured for myself and a fellow- 
passenger, in which to make the three-mile journey along 
the coast to the native " city " of Fusan, which we had 
already espied from the ship. Our way was a pleasant 
marly track, with the beautiful harbour on our right, and 
the grand verdant hills on our left. We found the kagos 
awaiting us at the Chinese settlement of Sinsorio. They 
were not nearly so comfortable as those in use in South 
China, and resembled small meat-safes, with green gauze 
curtains. The passenger had to sit screwed up tailor- 
fashion, and the three stalwart bearers, unlike the Chinese 
or Japanese, insisted on a rest at about every half-mile. 

The road was evidently a much-used one, for we met 
numbers of foot-passengers, and one notable personage 
on horseback. He was a sedate Korean, perched on a 
couple of band-boxes, on top of a diminutive pony, be- 
spectacled — the man, not the pony — with great saucer-like 
horn goggles, such as one sees in old collections. But his 
confreres on foot astonished me. I felt I was but in 
deshabiltt compared with these swell-dressed beaux — fine 
tall men, with tufty beards and bronzed countenances, 
clad in spotless white, and Welsh-shaped black hats 
perched on the top of coils of glossy hair, and tied under 

faience " is still carried on by the descendants of the Korean captives 
brought over by Shimadzu Yoshihiro, the feudal lord of Satsuma, 
in 1598. 



6 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

the chin, sauntering past, long pipe in hand. I remarked 
to my acquaintance that these must be the " ten to four 
frock-coated, silk-hatted city gents" of Fusan. But as 
we neared their homes in the native city, our wonderment 
increased. These were no double-fronted villas, with 
" tradesmen's entrance " in staring capitals on the further 
gate, but a collection of mud hovels, with thatched roofs. 
No chimney broke the outline, nor relieved the dead level 
of seeming ant-heaps, for the chimneys rose from the 
ground at the end of little tunnels, or were simply pipes 
emerging low down from the wall of the hut. Adjoining 
the one living-room was a tiny strip of a kitchen on a 
lower level, so that the fire might be kindled from here 
under the floor of the living-room, as with a Chinese bed ; 
a very economical method of heating the room, though 
perhaps an Englishman, who sleeps for the first time in 
winter above one of these stoke-holes (agung), might in 
his dreams fancy he had left this world for another, but 
not better ! But if we were surprised at the poverty of 
their homes, we were more puzzled to know how, in these 
low-roofed hovel-rooms of 8 x 8 X 6 feet, the white-robed 
gentry could be turned out so clean. The problem was 
partially solved for me two days later, when, wandering 
in the native village or town of Gensan, I observed a 
Korean gentleman taking a siesta, his legs in the hut, and 
the rest of him in the street, his coiffure and "top hat" 
undisturbed, as his head was resting on a wooden pillow. 
The husbands of the lower classes are frequently supported 
by their wives, which perhaps accounted for the number 
of loungers we met along the coast road and in the village 
street. Thus the poor wife does not only the cooking, 
sewing, washing, and multifarious home duties, but, espe- 
cially in remote parts, the weeding, reaping and general 
field work. Needlework takes up no inconsiderable 
portion of her time, for her lord has all his clothes made 
at home, and this means a heavy tax on her, for unless he 



FROM NAGASAKI TO GENSAN 7 

be turned out spotless, she will be known as a slattern. 
The amount of work this involves in unpicking, washing, 
and sewing is astonishing, for all his clothes are washable ; 
and his garments are so voluminous that one writer, who 
has lived in Korea for years, has said that his " pantaloons 
would provide a loose under-garment for the statue of 
Liberty, New York harbour." 

After this, it is needless to say, that the qualities sought 
for in a wife are not beauty or charm of manner, but those 
of a good " haus-frau." The goal of life of the Korean, the 
Korean male at least, is not to accomplish some great 
work, but rather to get along without working at all. This 
is to be a gentleman of the true aristocratic school. 

Passing through the native " town " of Fusan, we came 
by narrow alleys to the back of it, and began to climb the 
great hill which sheltered it from the north wind. A 
clamber up the red marly slopes, covered with the greenest 
of grasses and dotted with tiny quartz fragments, brought 
us to the summit. From here on that memorable day, 
the 13th of the fourth month of the year 1592, what a sight 
must have met the eye ! A vast invading army of at least 
130,000, possibly double that number, had set sail from the 
shores of Japan, and landing here, probably on the site of 
the present Japanese settlement, captured the Korean 
town of Pusan and the neighbouring castle of Tong-nai. 
And though victory was coy and favoured this year the 
Japanese, and the next the Koreans and Chinese, that first 
day was most surely the beginning of the end — the down- 
fall of Korea. It could have been no virile state that fell 
from its height so suddenly, but rather like the Roman 
Empire, its fall had begun from within ere it was attacked 
from without. 

From where we stood could be descried the unique and 
picturesque gate, erected after this memorable invasion, 
giving entrance to the old walled city, which is being 
deserted for the adjoining site to the west. Just inside were 



8 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

later historical links in the shape of memorial stones, calling 
to mind Celtic crosses, which we were told had been erected 
to the memory of mandarins who had " squeezed " less 
than was customary from the inhabitants. 

Among the mud and thatch hovels of the new 
" town " stood out a bungalow, the home of the Australian 
Presbyterian Mission, whither we had been courteously 
invited to a midday meal. On our way thither we passed 
through the main street empty of buyers and offering no 
tempting wares to the passer-by save some stiff hempen 
muslin, brass bowls and chop-sticks. I noted little save 
their somewhat conventional if not uncomfortable dress, 
that betokened an earlier civilization. The illustration 
shows the same street on a market or fair day, for, as 
in England seven centuries ago, most of the buying and 
selling is done at fairs. The bazars in the populous 
cities of India are busy all the week through, but in 
Korea, as in the Shan States, east of Burma, I found the 
fairs were held on every fifth day, Le. at one village in the 
district on the first, sixth, eleventh, and so on, and at 
another on the second, seventh, twelfth, etc., and on other 
days they were practically deserted. 

The next day was spent in watching the mountainous 
east coast of Korea, the long rugged, jagged, dentelle range 
with its deep, narrow and dark valleys. The razor-backed 
ridges and deeply furrowed sides of the mountains testified 
to the torrential nature of the streams, while their spurs, 
ending in abrupt cliffs, defied the attack of tide and wave. 
There could scarcely be a greater contrast to the low islet- 
studded shores of the western coast, where a tide of more 
than thirty feet sweeps in and out, alternately concealing 
and exposing great expanses of sand. Dense forests, the 
home of the tiger, " the old gentleman of the mountains," 
as the Koreans call him, clothed the steeps, and not to 
miss any of the wild setting of this scene, pirates had 
been captured here three or four weeks previously. 



^ 



=5 




FROM NAGASAKI TO GENSAN 9 

A shoal of whales was sighted, and some fine basaltic 
columns on our port side, and then bending our course 
shorewards we entered the beautiful natural harbour of 
Wonsan (Chinese, Yuensan), or, as it is more commonly 
called, Gensan (Japanese). Communications with the outer 
world were irregular and not too frequent, but better, except 
in the winter, than eight years before, when one of our pas- 
sengers, a Russian naval doctor, had been wrecked here, and 
had to spend fifty-two days on shore before he could get 
away. It was afternoon as we glided slowly in, and there 
spread out before us was a most beautiful, sheltered bay, 
dotted with islets, a dreamland of fishing, yachting and 
bathing. An out-of-the-world spot with a pleasant climate, 
forests to explore, big game to hunt, a curious people to 
study and the most glorious effects of light on land and sea ; 
at any rate so appears to have thought an English gentle- 
man, whose large house stands on an island about three or 
four miles from the shore. Here, indeed, he could indulge 
his love of quiet and be quit of the demands of Society. 

On the mainland, scattered in the neighbourhood, were 
three missionaries, the Commissioner of Customs and two 
other Englishmen, besides a Russian and another European. 

After a short spell on terra firma we put out at sun- 
down to rejoin the steamer, and a most glorious scene 
encircled us. Our sampan seemed to ride on a sea of 
molten silver, backed by great purple-black mountains, 
arched by a pale rose-shot sky. 

The Japanese settlement at Gensan, off which vessels 
anchor, is a rapidly growing one. The population could 
not have numbered less than 2000, while it is estimated 
that the Koreans total some 15,000, but this latter figure 
includes inhabitants scattered over a considerable area. 

The next morning we landed on the stone jetty, where 
petroleum and Shanghai cotton stuffs were being unloaded, 
and whence beans and rice were to be shipped at the end 
of harvest. 



io IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

As I wished to seek out any survivals of Korean art 
and craftsmanship, if such existed, I took with me as 
interpreter the secretary of the Japanese Consul, who 
at the same time politely told off one of the Consulate 
Guard to make a small collection. 

Our first visit was to the Korean Post-office. We, my 
American companion, an acquaintance made on board, 
and the interpreter, passed through the " Magistrature ; " 
a series of bow-roofed courts which to a Westerner sug- 
gested stables, and in the furthest of them were politely 
received by two white-robed and black-hatted officials. 

Our wants were duly explained. We wished to purchase 
a goodly number of stamps, for there were several issues 
still extant, and the youthful stamp collectors at home 
would expect us to do our duty that day. Our whole 
attention was absorbed in a careful selection, and little 
did we reck of the difficult work of calculation to follow. 
The head official resorted as usual in the East to the abacus, 
but such an abnormal purchase presented unusual difficulty. 
The sum had been done in my head, and we differed. 
The chief essayed again, and so did his assistant, but with 
differing results. At last, discarding the abacus for a slate, 
he commenced a long addition sum, for fifteen twos (a 
portion of the calculation) apparently in Korea do not 
make thirty by multiplication, but only by addition. To 
our great mutual satisfaction the slate confirmed me in my 
solution of this tremendous problem ! Our business trans- 
acted, permission was willingly given me to photograph 
the officials and the post-office. Two of them gravely sat 
down, the chief stood, and the result is seen in the accom- 
panying view. From here by the road we proceeded in a 
southerly direction along the coast to the main body of the 
Korean village or town. 

A shaky bridge, with here and there a broken plank, 
spanned the river, but pack-ponies found surer foothold 
and saved their masters toll by wading the ford. 




THE KOREAN POST-OFFfCE, GENSAN. \To face page IO, 



FROM NAGASAKI TO GENSAN n 

Peering into the huts as we threaded the long, straggling 
street of the village, I observed an occasional chest of 
drawers, painted a bright yellow, with handsome pierced 
plate-iron clamps or hinges of considerable size. These 
bureaux correspond to our old coffers or dowry chests, 
being made for the reception of the trousseau of the Korean 
bride. My cupidity was aroused. I could not transport 
a bureau, but I might compass the portage of some hinges. 
A Japanese official was appealed to for information, and a 
youthful guide and interpreter was added to our " staff." 
He wore a most extensive rush or bamboo hat, which for 
three years forms part of the mourning costume. It 
resembled an inverted flower-pot, with five scallops around 
the edge. So huge was it that I found myself calculating 
how many gallons of water it would hold were it water- 
tight, and manfully resisting the temptation to knock on 
the outside to inquire if the owner were within. 

We had now a small cavalcade of the " unattached." 
For about a mile and a half we proceeded thus by the 
" High Street," which threaded its way between the huts. 
From the neighbouring heights these must have looked 
like a collection of ant-hills. Korean gentlemen were 
stalking proudly down the street, or under the influence 
of the noonday heat had retired to rest on the floors of 
the small rooms, or lay partly in the street. Halting before 
one of these huts, and withdrawing the hanging mat, I found 
to my satisfaction a man squatted on the floor making 
hinges. 

But there was need for a considerable stock of patience. 
What mattered it to the Englishman if the steamer did 
leave without him ? Life is not worth living if you have 
to rush through it as do these foreigners. In the first 
place the difficulties of language had to be overcome. The 
Consul's secretary understood English and Japanese, and 
two of our youthful party claimed to know Japanese, but 
I would not vouch that they knew more than their numbers 



12 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

in that language. It took some considerable time to make 
the Korean craftsman understand that I wanted to buy- 
some of his hinges. Then the question of price was 
evidently a poser. Why, I do not know. Whether he was 
wont to barter with his neighbours, or did not sell them 
alone, but only affixed to the bureaux, or was staggered 
at the prospect of getting a hitherto undreamt of price 
from the "foreign devil," I cannot tell. The guide said 
he had no fixed price. It was evidently a serious business 
this, of making up a price on the spur of the moment, and 
we must give the poor man time to think. Finally the 
verdict came — 800 mung for one pair of hinges, at least 
so it was interpreted to me. It sounded a great deal, but 
600 cash coins being then the equivalent of a Japanese 
yen (2s. id.), the price was about 2s. gd, probably at least 
twice as much as a native would pay, but not exorbitant 
in my eyes. 

When I proceeded to pay for two or three pairs, I 
remembered that I had only Russian money, and there- 
fore a long squabble ensued as to the relative value of a 
ruble and a yen. In the East the former was worth a 
fraction more than the latter at that time, but an authority 
in the shape of another tradesman was called in to pro- 
nounce. By this time a large audience of Korean gentle- 
men, hard at work (!) smoking their pipes, had arrived on 
the scene ; but, notwithstanding, one shopkeeper averred 
with delightful impartiality that Russian money was cheap, 
and he would give me 80 sen (100 sen = 1 yen) for one 
ruble, at the end of a battle, we agreed to regard them 
as equivalents, and I proudly walked off with my hinges, 
the purchase of which had been nearly a whole morning's 
work. 

On my way back I passed a coolie carrying money — 
Korean cash — on his back. The Korean cash is a similar 
coin to the Chinese, and in size is between a farthing and 
a halfpenny, but thinner than either. In the centre is a 








.a 



o 

pd 
> 

2 > 
<° ^ 

m w 

ffi o 




FROM NAGASAKI TO GENS AN 13 

square hole, by which it is strung on straw ropes for con- 
venience of carrying. In journeying into the country one 
must employ a man to carry one's money thus, or if it be 
for more than a week a mule will be necessary. A mis- 
sionary whom I met made a fortnight's journey from Fusan, 
and took with him 10,000 cash, and he could hardly have 
been blamed for extravagance, for he had barely 35^. for 
his expenses. 

Silver and nickel coins have recently been put into 
circulation, but in the country it would be more difficult 
to change them than a five-pound note in a tiny English 
village. 

A few evidences or survivals of a past civilization were 
forthcoming in the Korean's wardrobe. I obtained some 
beautifully woven horse-hair cuffs, under-vests, and hats. 
The object of the two former was to keep their white linen 
from contact with their perspiring bodies in the heat of 
summer. Less expensive substitutes were made of bamboo. 
What might we not be saved in England in both purse and 
temper if we could dispense with the services of the 
laundress and wear bamboo underclothing ! 

The conventional headgear of a Korean gentleman is 
an expensive item, for he will pay as much as £2 and £3 
for a horse-hair hat, with which to cover his precious top- 
knot. Another refinement is noticeable in an oiled paper 
folding cover, which is worn over the hat in the rain, making 
of the whole a picturesque, conical-shaped head-dress. 
This latter and a large hat-box of oiled yellow paper on 
a bamboo frame, handsomely painted with Korean cha- 
racters, were just as inexpensive, costing the equivalents 
of id. and 6d. respectively. 

As we made our way back to the boat we passed the 
village fields of millet {sorghum vulgare) stretching away 
to the foot of the hills, and rising from out their midst the 
little stagings so familiar in China and throughout India. 
This stork-nest kind of erection is the family " look-out " 



14 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

from which to warn off grain pilferers of the biped class, 
both feathered and featherless. It is extremely hard work, 
but absolutely necessary, if a farmer has several small 
scattered lots, to keep watch day and night over the wide 
area. He is not safe even from relations, for it is said that 
poverty is so great " that it is necessary to work all day 
and steal all night to make an honest living." The harvest, 
however, was not yet ready, and neither the watchers nor 
the poorer women whom the strenuous battle of life renders 
impatient of the restrictions and seclusion of their richer 
sisters had arrived on the scene. 

If the Korean coolie has not the reputation for industry 
and energy at home, it is quite otherwise in Vladivostok. 
Probably it is the energetic, the venturesome, who have 
emigrated, but even so they are measured against a similar 
class from China and Manchuria. The most obvious 
explanation is that under Russian rule their earnings are 
their own, whereas in their own country they are liable to 
be squeezed, hence nothing is to be gained by persistent 
industry and thrift, for that would mean an invitation to 
official despoliation. 



CHAPTER II 
AT VLADIVOSTOK 

Russia, Japan, and Korea — Vladivostok — Siberian hotels — Search for 
an ice-free port — Tariff imposition and its results — Difficulties of 
travel. 

FROM Gensan north to Vladivostok is a twenty-four 
hours' steam, the boundary between Korea and the 
Russian Empire (Primorsk) being passed at the 
mouth of the river Tumen, about ninety miles before reach- 
ing the latter town. The Russian maritime province of 
the Primorsk and Korea are conterminous, save for the 
river, for a few miles inland, thus squeezing Manchuria 
into a wedge-shaped piece which fails to reach the coast. 
Hereabouts the great rugged scarred mountains give 
place to sloping hills, which fall gently to the sea. 

This contiguity of Russia has had a great influence on 
the attitude of Japan towards Korea. After the negotia- 
tions, in which Japan, at the close of the Chino-Japanese 
war, was prevented by Russia, Germany and France from 
acquiring any territory on the Chinese mainland, feeling 
ran high in the Island Empire, and there remained the 
impression in Europe that Japan might soon come to 
blows with Russia over Korea. The rapid and abnormal 
increase of Japan's navy, and the supposed need for the 
latter to attack Russia before her trans-continental railway 
was finished, made a rupture, to European eyes, imminent. 
As time went by, and Japan joined with the Powers in 
the Peking expedition, these fears were somewhat allayed, 



16 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

but not dispelled, as was evidenced by the refusal to lend 
Japan money to prevent the financial crisis of 1901. And 
yet, all the while, politicians in the West were labouring 
under a misapprehension. Notwithstanding all our boasted 
rapidity of communication, the telegraph and the press, 
distance counts for very much as a factor of ignorance. 
Youthful Japan was fired with patriotic enthusiasm, 
and we heard the echoes of their rampings in the press, 
but meanwhile the older heads at the helm knew and 
realized fully the true situation. As one of them remarked 
to me, " What is there to go to war with Russia about ? 
Korea ? We are settled in Korea — witness our merchants, 
our own settlements at Fusan, Gensan, etc. — just as truly 
as Russia is in Manchuria. It is as futile for her to 
attempt to turn us out of Korea, as for us to evict her 
from Manchuria. Moreover, we older heads realize that 
to go to war with Russia would be to stake our very 
national existence on one throw of the dice." 

This is interesting in the light of later events. Statis- 
tics corroborate the strength of the mercantile position 
of Japan in Korea. Whereas there are (I quote from 
the figures of 1901) 16,142 Japanese in the country, 
the Russians number only 97. Sixty-five per cent, of the 
shipping trade is Japanese, and it is they who are con- 
structing the railway from Seoul to Fusan. Foreign 
correspondence is mainly done through the Japanese post- 
offices, and, as I found, the Korean coinage was largely 
supplemented by Japanese paper-money. 

It is obvious, however, that with the absorption of 
Manchuria, and the acceleration of communication by the 
Trans-Siberian and Chinese Eastern railways, Russia's 
position for an attack, commercial or military, is greatly 
strengthened. She has certainly possessed herself of 
another weapon, viz. her power to menace the indepen- 
dence of Korea, which, like her attitude towards 
Afghanistan, she finds so useful in the game of bluff. 



AT VLADIVOSTOK 17 

Nagasaki had been left on August 14, and Vladivo- 
stok reached on August 5. I do not mean that we 
had performed the journey in minus nine days, but that 
Russia is still thirteen days behind the rest of Europe 
in her kalendar ; and some of her writers would have us 
believe that she is not even this much behind the West in 
civilization. 

Vladivostok is picturesquely situated at the head of a 
narrow inlet in the Muraviev-Amursky peninsula. This 
inlet was first discovered by an English naval captain 
in 1856, and named "Port May;" but it has been re- 
christened by the Russians, Zolotoy Rog, or Golden 
Horn. 

To the south, the peninsula is separated from " Russian 
Island " by the Eastern Bosphorus straits, and on the west 
and east is bounded by the Gulf of Amur and the Ussuri 
Gulf. 

Threading the straits, our vessel entered the Golden 
Horn, and shortly afterward the town came into view at 
a bend of the coast. Its situation on the hilly slopes of a 
haven with many ramifications, is certainly picturesque, 
and had it not been for the total destruction of the trees, 
the site would have been truly beautiful. The houses 
showed painfully new in the brilliant afternoon sunshine, 
and jostled each other in higgledy-piggledy fashion. The 
white stone cathedral stood out glaringly against the red- 
brick merchants' warehouses ; but most prominent of all 
on entering the harbour were the fortifications and barracks. 
These were visible in all directions, overflowing into en- 
campments of white tents. On prominent spurs big guns 
were mounted, and the next morning I counted eight 
Russian ironclads at anchor. 

Vladivostok has a population of between 40,000 and 
50,000 inhabitants, of whom about half are Russians, and 
the rest Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, with a sprinkling of 
Europeans and Americans. From the point of view of 

c 



18 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

buildings, it is still the finest town in Siberia, for while 
Irkutsk, the Paris of Siberia, as it has been called, boasts 
only a few public buildings in brick, the rest in wood, 
Vladivostok possesses several streets of brick and stucco 
buildings. At the same time, a Siberian town is always 
full of contrasts. Imposing buildings line a road which 
would disgrace an English farm. The trottoirs are of 
wooden planks. Substantial erections jostle wooden 
shanties. Hotels, illuminated with electric light, offer the 
traveller filthy floors, and beds with no bed-linen, and 
charge him extra for the use of a towel ! Telegrams were 
exceedingly cheap, but there was no knowing when they 
would get to their destination. The Vladivostok banks 
allowed twenty-five days for the transmission of money 
by telegram to St. Petersburg in calculating interest ; and 
the bank manager, a Frenchman, at Nikolaevsk, at the 
mouth of the river Amur, told me that it once took him 
forty days to get a wire through to the capital. He was 
dependent on a single wire for a great distance, and this 
is not infrequently brought down by floods or a storm. 
The accident having been located and the repairs at last 
completed, there is an accumulation of official telegrams 
which take precedence. An " urgent " telegram of mine 
once lay undelivered on the counter of the telegraph-office 
at Vladivostok for ten days, and for this triple prices had 
been paid, in addition to the reply. 

A foreign resident, who spoke Russian and was a 
friend of the Governor of Vladivostok, told me that it 
took him sometimes two hours to get an " urgent " tele- 
gram accepted at the office, and then he had the satisfac- 
tion of knowing that it might have to wait for a sufficient 
number to accumulate before it was despatched to its 
destination. 

You are fortunate if you do not arrive to find yourself 
at the end of a queue of people waiting. The clerk's 
attention at length arrested, you hand him your telegram. 



AT VLADIVOSTOK 19 

He glances at it, and calls " boyka" * and orders "stakan 
tchai" (a glass of tea). This brought, he discovers there is 
no sugar, and recalls the boy and scolds him. Again he 
glances leisurely down the telegram, and begins to turn 
over his book preparatory to making several copies of it. 
Between whiles he pauses to drink tea, and at length 
summons the boy again, this time for cigarettes and 
matches. And so time wears on and your patience wears 
out, for time is no object to the Russian, and he would 
characterize our adage, "Time is money," as either mad- 
ness or low principle. 

Nevertheless, improvements on the line of travel march 
quickly even in Siberia, especially since the Manchurian 
railway has been completed, and it would be unfair to 
post-date the above picture. I have recently received a 
cable in England from Vladivostok in twenty-four hours. 

As I have mentioned, the rates are very cheap, and 
special efforts are now made to get telegrams from or to 
Europe put through rapidly, and without murdering the 
English or German spelling more than the officials can 
possibly avoid. 

As regards hotel accommodation, so obvious was the 
lack of a decent hotel that a large building originally 
designed for offices was going to be adapted as a "hotel 
run on European lines," so that in this matter also ere 
now, the above description, while still true of most Siberian 
towns, ought no longer to be so of Vladivostok's best hotel. 
Banking arrangements were not much in advance of 
the postal and telegraphic. In the East, whether it be 
at Hong Kong, Shanghai or Yokohama, one expects to 
spend half an hour in getting a letter of credit cashed, 
but I was warned that in Siberia it would be advisable to 
leave one's letter in the morning and call again in the 
afternoon. Even so I heard of the following incident with 
some surprise. A foreign merchant stepped over to the 

* Pidgin Russian for " boy." 



20 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

Russo-Chinese Bank in Vladivostok to deposit a few thou- 
sand rubles. It was just after 9 o'clock in the morning. 
It seems scarcely credible, but by 12 o'clock he had got 
the matter finished ! A London cashier would have settled 
the matter in less than two minutes. There was a passing 
backwards and forwards to different departments. In 
some the official was busy and delay occurred, then finally 
after quantities of paper had been used and much ink had 
flowed, the signatures of two directors were required, and 
only one was present. The other had his own office else- 
where, and had to be found. 

It would be of course quite absurd to expect Western 
smartness in Vladivostok, and in fairness we ought to com- 
pare it with other towns in the East, where life is taken 
easily ; but even so it suffers by contrast. 

The Russians after all are only slowly developing a 
commercial class. In 1861, they possessed no middle class, 
the nation consisted of the aristocracy and the serfs. They 
were an agricultural people, and the Jews were doing what 
little trade and commerce existed. 

I once asked a Russian official, " How is it you do not 
allow the Americans or English to go up to Kharbin (in 
Manchuria) to trade?" "Why," he replied, with the 
greatest candour, "they are so quick that they would capture 
all the trade before we Russians had a look in." 

This patriotic feeling is having some curious results. 
As I write, M. de Witte, the Russian Finance Minister, is 
as anxious as Lord Curzon to encourage manufactures and 
industrial developments, the one in Russia, the other in 
India. As Chancellor of the Exchequer, M. de Witte 
sees possibilities of increased revenue in flourishing manu- 
factures, but we may credit him as we do our Indian 
Viceroy with the desire to render the large mass of people 
less dependent on agriculture, and therefore less subject to 
famine. 

The Russian Minister has not hesitated to invite English 



AT VLADIVOSTOK 21 

capital. I sometimes wonder whether his emissaries have 
informed him that his underlings in Eastern Siberia, con- 
sumed with the natural desire of " Russia and Siberia for 
the Russians," are doing their best to oust the foreigner. 

The imposition of the tariff at Vladivostok has been a 
handy weapon, and under this pretext heavy fines may be 
inflicted for non-observance of intricate regulations, the 
duty on an article new to the import list stated on pre- 
liminary inquiry to be so much may be raised to five times 
the amount on the arrival of the consignment, and the 
previous statement disclaimed. 

Restrictions are hemming in enterprises more closely, 
but these press scarcely more heavily on the foreigner than 
they do upon the native, and are dictated by an empty 
exchequer. With care and a careful observance of the 
regulations laid down, I am inclined to believe that profit- 
able ventures may yet be made by foreigners in Siberia. 
Greater care is needed in dealing with local officials, and 
I suspect that most of the troubles the foreigner encounters 
are not due to the policy of the Government, but mainly 
to new weapons of bureaucratic peculation. 

But to resume my story. Having been visited on board 
by the medical and police authorities, and no objection 
taken to our passports, a sampan, rowed by a Korean, took 
us ashore, and landed us in the market, or bazar. Here we 
plunged into a medley of nationalities, Chinese, Manchu, 
Koreans, Japanese, Golds (an Amur tribe), Russians, and, 
not to be mistaken anywhere, a group of gipsies. 

A Russian naval officer had already warned us that the 
hotels throughout the empire were " abominable and dear," 
a generalization about as true as most. There are cer- 
tainly exceptions in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and one 
in Siberia at Blagovestchensk (kept by a Frenchman). 
But at Vladivostok, the biggest, the " Tikiy Okean " (the 
Pacific Ocean) hotel, with its dirty floors and its cafe 
chantant from midnight until 4.30 a.m., was to be avoided. 



22 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

Fortunately, through friends, I found a quite " tolerably 
clean" hostelry in the Moskovsky Padvarey, a family 
hotel which had nothing, however, to boast of in its 
restaurant, for the same friends, when they stayed at it, 
had been wont to go out to a " patissier " to obtain their 
breakfast. I fared boldly on, even after I had to give up 
my one hope — eggs, which I began to suspect were 
"made," if not "in Germany," at least in China. 

Meals, I must confess, especially in more out-of-the-way 
places later on, were a difficulty in the Russian Empire. 
The Russian revels in things tart and acid, and does not 
object to chunks of food. Sour cream and small cucumbers 
or large gherkins played a great part in Siberian menus. 
At dinner and supper the latter regularly appeared, while 
the soup contained a great cubical chunk of coarse beef. 
It is only fair to say that the Russians do know how to 
make soups, for these when well made are rich, thick, and 
tasty. Vegetables of all kinds abound in them, and make 
this first course to a Westerner almost a meal in itself. 
Perhaps the national soup, which was the first viand placed 
before me in the Russian Empire, would scarcely appeal 
to an Englishman. It was swimming with chopped vege- 
tables of all kinds, including cabbage, beetroot, carrot, 
turnip, etc., and contained the usual solid piece of beef, on 
the top of which rode a portion of sour cream, and, to 
crown all, a lump of ice. 

It was not without adventures that we reached the 
Moscow Inn, for our izvostchik persisted in driving us 
to the Moscow Restaurant, which was situated in the 
lowest quarter of the town. On the way we encountered 
some drunken Russian sailors, ashore for the Sunday 
holiday, who were having a free fight in the street. Since 
leaving Port Said, with the exception of Peshawur, I did 
not remember to have been in such a rowdy place ; but we 
were helped out of the difficulties our driver had plunged 
us into by a fellow Britisher, who ran us to earth in the 



AT VLADIVOSTOK 23 

hole in which we now found ourselves and explained the 
mistake. Then he asked me, "You carry your six- 
chamber ? " 

" I have it in my bag, but I suppose reports are 
exaggerated, are they not ? " 

" Well," he replied, " I hadn't been here a week when, 
in broad daylight, at two o'clock in the afternoon, I heard 
shots. I ran up a yard, and there saw a woman lying on 
the ground shot, and a man reloading his pistol. I seized 
him, calling a Russian passer-by to my assistance, and we 
handed the culprit over to the police." 

As the American rather forcibly put it, "You don't 
want your revolver often, but when you do you want it 
bad." 

After the summer heat of Japan, Vladivostok is quite 
a relief, for though it is situated on lat. 43 6' and lies 
south even of Florence and Nice, it experiences a cold 
winter and not an excessively hot summer. 

The winter is fine and dry, and the summer free from 
the troublesome dust-storms of Peking. South-east winds 
laden with moisture prevail in summer, and fogs occur in 
May, June and July, but the months from October to 
March are quite free from fog, and European residents 
from Japan, Shanghai, etc., come up here to avoid the heat 
of August and September. The monthly average tempera- 
ture ranges from 5 Fahr. in January to 6g° Fahr. in August. 

In winter the harbour is frozen from the first week in 
December until the last in March, and the Japanese mail- 
steamers cease to run for two or three months, although 
there are ice-crushers in the port. Otherwise it is a fine 
almost land-locked haven, and could ride any Far Eastern 
Fleet, though the natural position is scarcely a defensible 
one. 

The town has spread not only along the Golden Horn, 
but over to the shores of the Gulf of Amur. Land has 
risen rapidly in value ; and one gentleman whom I visited 



24 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

told me he was paying for his flat of six rooms on the first 
floor of a two-story wooden house £180 per annum. 

The port has made very rapid strides. However, the 
recent imposition of a customs tariff, and the determination 
of the Imperial Government to make Dalni, which is less 
than thirty miles by rail from Port Arthur, the great port 
of the East and the direct route to Japan is already being 
felt in the older town. It is the old story of the long 
scheming for an ice-free port which has at last been 
fulfilled. 

Petropavlovsk, in Kamchatka, at one time a naval 
station and the scene of the repulse of the Allies in the 
Crimean War, is to-day a village ; for it had to give way, 
after the cession of the Amur in 1858, to Nikolaevsk, 
which was henceforth the naval base of Russia in the East. 
In 1872 a removal was again made to Vladivostok, a site 
over which we are told tigers roamed but a few years 
before. To-day Nikolaevsk wears a partially deserted air, 
though the process of decline has been arrested by the 
discovery of gold on the Amgun river. Finally, Vladivo- 
stok has to-day to give way to Dalni, which, according to 
Russians, is to become the greatest sea-port of the East, 
and to dwarf Hong Kong ! 

There was no question that Vladivostok up to the time 
of the imposition of the tariff had been making great 
strides ; but already the baneful effect of this was evident, 
and since then matters have gone from bad to worse. 
M. de Witte has been bombarded with petitions from the 
Vladivostok Chamber of Commerce. To the injuries sus- 
tained from the tariff imposition, trade was also suffering 
from the competition for the Manchurian trade of the then 
free ports of Dalni and Port Arthur. Such were the 
delays and troubles of custom house formalities, that goods 
in transit for Manchuria were diverted to these ports, and 
for Sakhalin and North-Eastern Siberia to Japanese ports. 
Local industries dependent upon imported raw material 



AT VLADIVOSTOK 25 

have been killed off, and the effects have been felt through- 
out the Primorsk, though the chief cause of depression in 
that region was the diversion of the traffic to the Chinese 
Eastern (Manchurian) Railway. 

I fear that the social life of few eastern ports would 
bear looking into, and perhaps Vladivostok less than most. 
At most of these the disease of the social body was 
decently hidden, but here it was thrust upon you. Even 
more than these others it is a place where men congregate 
from various parts of the earth to do business, to make 
ventures, but whither their women-folk do not generally 
follow them. At the last census, of all towns in Siberia 
this had the smallest proportion of females to males, viz. 
15*6 per cent. In so distant a spot, amidst a strange 
environment, amongst a mingling of different beliefs and 
customs, where it is easier to cast all away than to find 
common ground, tradition and convention are thrown to 
the winds. And this is not confined to unknown people, 
for you learn afterwards, with a shock, that the officials and 
persons of distinction with whom you have been dining are 
leading exponents of this life. 

In pursuit of my plan to get to the island of Sakhalin, 
I turned to the genial American Consul, Mr. Greener, who 
kindly assisted wandering Britishers. Quite recently a 
British commercial agent has been appointed ; but at that 
time the Americans outnumbered the British residents, 
as now, I believe. It was at the house of one of the former 
that I met an interesting American Episcopalian clergy- 
man. He was certainly not of the ordinary type, and 
combining as he did a love of sport with his more serious 
pursuits, his travels had taken him into various parts 
of the world, including Japan and South Africa. Mention 
of the latter led to an interesting story about Cecil 
Rhodes, which is quite worth repeating. Dr. Z. confessed 
that as a public man Rhodes had not attracted him, but 
personal contact with the man had quite changed his 



26 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

opinion of him ; thereupon he told us the following 
story : — 

"The first occasion I was staying with him," said 
Dr. Z., " was at the time of the Matabele War. Carrington's 
troops had not been able to effect permanent results owing to 
exceptional difficulties, and Rhodes had gone out unarmed, 
parleyed with the big chief, and arranged a peace ; but as 
yet the smaller chiefs had not given in. Every day he 
and I rode out into their country ; but after the first day 
I asked him to lend me a gun. He said, * What for ? ' 
* Oh ! ' I said, * I have seen some leopards and should like to 
shoot one ; besides, you yourself admit that these smaller 
chiefs are not to be trusted/ 'Well,' he replied, 'you 
know our troops could do nothing with these tribes in their 
natural fastnesses, and I must depend solely on moral 
influence. I have agreed with these big chiefs for a peace, 
and I want to show them that I trust them/ ' But/ I 
asked, ' why not carry a revolver in your pocket, no one 
would know, and I confess I should feel happier myself? ' 
' My dear fellow,' he replied, ' my servants know everything 
that is in my baggage, and everybody else would soon 
know also. Besides/ added he, ' if we were attacked on 
one of these narrow ledges what could we do ? We 
might send a few of these fellows to their account, and 
certainly in the end be killed ourselves ; and would you 
feel any better for having to render account for a dozen 
natives ? ' " 

From Vladivostok my intention was, if possible, to 
visit the island of Sakhalin, and then traverse Siberia to 
Europe. My original plans were based on catching a 
coasting vessel putting in at Sakhalin on its way to 
Nikolaevsk on the mainland ; but one of these had left 
a few hours before I arrived. This was annoying, but I 
guessed that if I took the train by the Ussuri railway, that 
isolated piece of line which connects Vladivostok with 
Khabarovsk on the Amur, and made connexions with a 



AT VLADIVOSTOK 27 

steamboat down the river to its mouth, I might at 
Nikolaevsk yet catch the coasting steamer on its return, 
and hope for its calling at Alexandrovsk in Sakhalin. Of 
course I must take my chance of being allowed to land. 
As will be seen, this plan did not wholly succeed, but 
perhaps it was as well. 

But even with success assured there were other diffi- 
culties which I wished to avoid, if possible, by carefully 
laying my plans beforehand. In the first place, no 
reliance could be made on the dates of sailing or of con- 
nexions in so-far-out-of-the-world a place as Sakhalin or 
Nikolaevsk. If I left the island before the Straits of 
Tartary froze I could get some vessel or other to take me 
to Nikolaevsk, and so by steamboat for 2025 miles, frost 
permitting, to Stretensk, the terminus of the Trans-Siberian 
railway. The Manchurian railway, which might have been 
an alternative, was still in course of construction. There 
was one alternative for the first stage of the journey as far 
as Khabarovsk, for I might by catching a steamer to 
Vladivostok again take the Ussuri railway to Khabarovsk, 
and from that point ascend the Amur to Stretensk, a 
distance of only 1402 miles. Perhaps the choice of these 
routes reads rather like deciding to go to Paris via Calais 
or Boulogne, but it was scarcely so easy or reliable a 
performance. 

Four Germans landed with me at Vladivostok, intend- 
ing to cross Siberia. I asked them, " Did they know their 
route — that it was highly important to get influence to bear 
to obtain a berth on the steamboat at Khabarovsk before 
leaving Vladivostok ? " They asked, " Where is Kha- 
barovsk ? We never heard of it before ! " They had 
come from Japan with the idea that they merely had to 
take a ticket at Vladivostok and be whirled away to 
Europe! I referred them to compatriots of theirs, the 
great merchants Kunst and Albers, whose aegis, I trust, 
was all-sufficient. 



28 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

Friends of mine, who had been well posted up, spent 
twelve days in Vladivostok obtaining the promise of 
berths on the steamboat at Khabarovsk, and when, two 
days later, they arrived there, these had been annexed by 
officers, who always take precedence in means of com- 
munication and transport. However, they got away in 
a tiny steamer shortly after, and spent twenty-nine days 
on board ascending the Amur and Shilka, sometimes on 
sandbanks, and sometimes returning to fetch a third barge, 
that had to be towed ! The Amur journey, under favour- 
able conditions, should take about twelve days, but the 
river is very fickle, and while Dr. Z. had come with 
scarcely a hitch (perhaps Prince Khilkov's name was all- 
powerful, not only with the officials, but with the river 
deity), others had experienced unheard-of difficulties. One's 
own countrymen told of crowded boats, of camping in 
the gardens of an hotel waiting for connexions, of first- 
class passengers, even ladies, sleeping thick on the deck, 
and of one steamer passed that had spent eleven days on 
a sandbank. 

Arrived at length at Stretensk, I should have four days' 
train and boat to Irkutsk, whence thrice a week a train 
de luxe accomplished the 3390 miles to Moscow in eight 
days. But my difficulties would be over if I could make 
sure of getting so comparatively easy a journey as this. 

What I had to fear was that the river Amur or its 
tributary the Shilka would be frozen somewhere en route. 
The steamboat would, as is usual, remain where it stuck for 
six months, and the river being insufficiently frozen for 
sledging, for nearly two months I might be stranded at 
some lonely Siberian emigrant settlement on the Amur, 
lucky if a poor stantsiya, or post-house, would give me 
shelter, black bread and shtchi. The uncertainty as to 
when the river would freeze, the doubt as to whether the 
last steamer would take days or weeks, and if the latter, 
when it would be frozen up, were insoluble even by the 



AT VLADIVOSTOK 29 

one or two people I sought out who had lived on the 
Amur. "Was it possible," I asked, "to cover the 1400 
miles between Khabarovsk and Stretensk supposing I got 
frozen up ? " The only alternative suggested was to buy- 
horses on the spot, and get a Kazak * to accompany 
me as guide. This was almost impracticable, because I 
should require too many pack-horses for my effects and 
food, not to mention the likelihood of parting company 
with one's baggage in swimming semi-frozen tributaries 
of the Amur, or in an encounter with brodyagi (escaped 
convicts). 

It was clear, therefore, that if I wanted to spend 
Christmas in Europe, and not in Siberia, I must imake 
sure before crossing to Sakhalin of being able to catch 
a river steamboat at Nikolaevsk that had ample time in 
which to reach Stretensk before the Amur and Shilka 
began to freeze. 

This promised a very short stay on Sakhalin, but 
events turned out otherwise. 

* This and not Cossack is the correct transliteration of the Russian 
word. 



CHAPTER III 
FROM VLADIVOSTOK TO KHABAROVSK 

The railway journey — The Ussuri region — The terrible massacre at 
Blagovestchensk — Stories of eye-witnesses — Khabarovsk. 

THE Ussuri railroad, by which I was to reach the 
river Amur, is 475 miles in length, and connects 
Vladivostok with Khabarovsk. 

This line, which was finished in 1897, was intended to 
be the last stage of the Trans-Siberian railway traveller's 
journey. Starting from Moscow, and having reached and 
crossed Lake Baikal, he would then use the Trans-Baikalian 
line as far as Stretensk, and thence the (as yet non-existent) 
extension of that line along the banks of the rivers Shilka 
and Amur via Blagovestchensk to Khabarovsk. 

This was still, at the time of my travel, the route for 
the Trans-Siberian traveller, with this difference, that the 
journey of 1402 miles between Stretensk and Khabarovsk 
was accomplished by steamer and not by train. 

The reason of this abrupt termination of the railway 
at Stretensk was due to negotiations with China; for in 
the autumn of 1896, the Russo-Chinese Bank and the 
Chinese Government entered into an agreement whereby 
the former was to form a company for the construction 
of a railway through Manchuria, connecting the Trans- 
Baikalian portion of the Trans-Siberian railway with a 
branch of the southern section of the Ussuri railway at 
Pogranitchnya. 

The point of departure from the Trans-Baikalian line 

30 



FROM VLADIVOSTOK TO KHABAROVSK 31 

has been shifted more than once in the official plans, 
and reports vary even in authoritative publications. The 
junction station for Manchuria is neither Chita nor Ner- 
chensk, Onon, Kaidalovo nor Karimskaya, but a little 
station called " Kitaesky Razyezd " (Chinese junction), 
sixty-eight miles beyond Chita, going east. This new 
line, which, as I write, is now available for trans-con- 
tinental traffic, effects a saving of several hundred miles 
over the originally projected route by the Amur. 

The Ussuri railroad borders the Gulf of Amur, then 
keeping to the east of the river Suifun as far as Nikolskoy, 
which is the junction for the branch-line joining the Chinese 
Eastern (Manchurian) railway at the frontier, makes for 
Lake Hinka, or Khanka, which it leaves from fifteen to 
thirty miles on the left. After this the Ussuri river is 
crossed by a bridge of 840 feet, one verst (two-thirds or 
•663 of a mile) beyond Ussuri station, and rather less than 
halfway to Khabarovsk. Thereafter the line follows the 
right bank of the Ussuri, keeping at a tolerably safe dis- 
tance from the flood area, until its junction with the Amur 
at Khabarovsk. 

It was at 9 a.m. on the morning of August 24, 1901, 
when my train started out of Vladivostok with eight 
corridor carriages, including a buffet-car. An ascent up 
the valley of the Suifun river had to be accomplished, and 
notwithstanding our two big Baldwin (American) loco- 
motives, these gradients were crawled at about three miles 
an hour. From the top of this ascent an average speed 
of twelve miles an hour was maintained, the line wisely 
dispensing with engineering feats of skill, going round 
hills and avoiding river-crossings as far as possible. Of 
course, there are no tunnels ; in fact, between Vladivostok 
and St. Petersburg there are but two and these very short ; 
one is near Zlatoust and the other in that mountainous 
region, Trans-Baikalia. In the course of a year, the 
traveller from Europe to Vladivostok, Dalni, or Peking will 



32 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

be able to note four exceptions to this rule on the Man- 
churian railway, which are at present avoided by zig-zags 
and reversing stations. 

Passing, as the Ussuri line does, along a valley, the 
scenery is mainly meadow-land, virgin pasture, with scrub 
and scantily forest-clad undulating hills, occasionally 
approaching and receding. Mountains are visible from 
the line in the distance, but the great range of the Sikhota 
Alin bordering the coast lies from 80 to 150 miles to 
the east. 

The immediate region of the railway is scarcely typical 
of the rest of the country with its rugged scenery, wild 
Tungusian peoples and its brigands. In the valley of 
this river, Kazaks had been established for years to 
defend the frontier between Manchuria and the Primorsk, 
and they had been followed by other emigrants. Thus, 
all along the line the land is settled for at least one-third 
of the way, as far as Spaskaya, but by no means closely 
settled. There are patches of cultivated land and occasion- 
ally some cattle to be seen by a river's edge. Seldom is 
a cottage to be descried, more seldom a village. Some- 
times, when the train drew up at a station, one could 
make out a so-called town about two or three miles off, 
and pick out one by one the whitewashed wooden cottages, 
two or three brick houses of officials and, towering above 
all, the cupola of a church. 

The colonization of the district was begun in 1855, but 
proceeded slowly owing to the great difficulties of travel 
and transport. By 1897, the population of the Primorsk 
region, which has an area of just under 716,000 square 
miles, or nearly seven times that of New Zealand, had not 
attained to one-third of the number of that country's in- 
habitants. Communication has improved of late, and 
considerable inducements have been made by Government, 
but the number of emigrant families from Odessa in 1898 
totalled no more than 578, and even from this must be 



FROM VLADIVOSTOK TO KHABAROVSK 33 

deducted leakages, for in 1900 and 1901 a reverse stream 
was to be noted, as immigrants were becoming emigrants, 
and returning home across Siberia. It seemed strange 
that they should be willing to throw up the chance of a 
freer life than they could ever hope for in European 
Russia, under a climate that was not more inhospitable ; 
but it will appear less so when we remember that the 
Russian peasant loves companionship, and picture to our- 
selves the awful loneliness of outlying settlement life. It 
is true that in Russia his village may be isolated by long 
distances, but within his village he finds a world of fellow- 
ship. Then, too, he has not the stock of energy of an 
Anglo-Saxon. Hampered by want of sufficient capital, 
and confronted by considerable natural difficulties, he gives 
in, where others of a race less stoical to suffering, but more 
energetic, would win. 

Although the Ussuri district is rich in flora, and the 
vegetation good, agriculture suffers from a delayed spring 
and a wet summer. In July and August come the monsoon 
winds, as we may call them, from the south-east, laden 
with rain from the Pacific, preventing the ripening of the 
crops, while spring lags at the heels of the frost and 
impedes an early sowing. The great Lake Khanka, with 
an area of 250 square miles, is frozen from the first half of 
November until the first half of April. Oats, wheat and 
rye are grown, and less commonly, buckwheat, millet and 
barley, but the quality of the crops is poor and the fields 
very weedy. An analysis of the imports of Vladivostok 
for this and the Amur region shows a proportion of 15 per 
cent, of corn and flour, which is in itself a sufficient com- 
ment, when we think of the large available arable area 
and the scanty population. Grazing is more successful 
and it is said that each household owns on an average 
eight or nine head of cattle and two or three pigs and 
goats, but the standard of quality of these leaves much 
to be desired. 

D 



34 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

As I looked out on the scenery I was reminded of 
New Zealand, and the development of that country. How 
different the results ! True, the latter had had many 
advantages, a more agreeable climate and a start of at 
least fifteen years in colonization, but it had its disad- 
vantages also in the large areas of thick bush, which even 
to-day can only be cleared with great labour. Little did 
these Russian settlers know of the huge difficulties of 
clearing New Zealand bush, nor had they to burn off the 
wild grasses, nor clean and nurse the land through several 
seasons before they could sow the grass from home that 
would yield good feed for sheep. Here in the Ussuri 
country large areas of rich meadow-land await the herds 
of cattle. The explanation is surely this, that New Zealand 
has had sturdy, restless members of the Anglo-Saxon race, 
and many a younger son of gentle family with a moderate 
capital seeking his fortune and carving it out, whereas 
in the Primorsk poor emigrants without capital and ex- 
convicts with less hope have been imported to struggle 
with nature in a wild mood. 

The scenery altered little as the train entered on the 
northern section of the Ussuri railway, save that the valley 
opened out into a wider plain. These great stretches of 
meadow-land seemed to invite American methods of agri- 
culture. Many a stream rising in the Sikhota range, far 
away to the east, was hurrying across the plain to join the 
Ussuri, and as we crossed them I was reminded of the 
Norfolk Broads, for their banks were gay with meadow- 
sweet, white campanulas, gentians, Michaelmas daisies 
and spiraea (S. betulcefolia f). The trees, which at first were 
mostly oak, ash, willow, walnut, hornbeam and cedar, gave 
way to birch and spruce, and then to the elder, larch, elm, 
maple and acacia. 

To the north forests were more frequent and settle- 
ments less so. Our train was making up for lost time, for 
at the end of twenty-four hours we had averaged fifteen 



3 
* 







FROM VLADIVOSTOK TO KHABAROVSK 35 

miles an hour, making no allowance for some moderately- 
lengthy stoppages. 

The stations were well built of wood, sometimes of 
brick, and occasionally stood well back from the line, with 
a garden between. 

Curiously enough the station names were painted in 
Slav characters, which for an ordinary Russian are more 
difficult to read at a glance than old English characters 
would be for us. 

The halts were fully made use of by the third-class 
passengers to procure food. As the train steamed in, a 
few women, barefooted, with kerchiefed heads, were to be 
seen hurrying from the railway-workers' huts with aprons 
full of victuals — eggs, roast corn (maize), cucumbers, beans, 
even cooked fowls and rude pots containing milk. A 
lonely sort of life this, of two or three families at a wayside 
station ; nothing but forest and plain, with no companions 
for miles, but not to be compared with that of those who 
had no passing trains to break the monotony, albeit they 
did arouse envy of the happy travellers bound for home. 

At Bikin, which we reached about 7 o'clock the next 
morning, I descended into the midst of some natives, 
members of the Gold tribe, who had attained to the exalted 
rank of railway porters. They made picturesque figures, 
especially their women, who had their two pig-tails re- 
trousSes, bound with cord and adorned with many coloured 
glass beads and shells. Their dress consisted of smocks 
bordered with various gaily coloured cotton stuffs, and 
strung round with " cash " coins, and leggings similarly 
adorned. 

A Russian colonel of the railway staff, seeing my interest 
in them, politely offered to get the chief of the Golds and 
his wife, who were on the train, to pose for a photograph. 
It appeared that the chief had become semi-Europeanized, 
but judging by the extraordinary and gaudy attire of the 
wife, who looked like an Indian squaw in loud-coloured 



36 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

shawls, she could scarcely claim to belong yet to the 
Russian " intelligenti." 

Until he had reached Bikin, the ordinary traveller could 
hardly have realized that he was passing through the 
country of the Fish-skin Tartars. To the east and to the 
north live these wild tribes, hunting and fishing and main- 
taining their strange old traditional customs and cere- 
monies, of which I shall have more to say later on. And 
though with the Orotchons or Oroktis, the Golds and the 
Gilyaks, the custom of clothing themselves in fish-skins, 
which gained them their name of Yu-pi-ta-tse with the 
Chinese, is going rapidly before the advent of the Manchu 
trader with " ta-pu," or Chinese cloth, yet I myself have 
mixed with Gilyaks and Orotchons who still wore fish-skin 
garments and who did me honour by spreading a rug of 
fish-skins for me to recline upon. 

Occupying the coupi facing mine was a fellow pas- 
senger of whose familiarity with these parts I was glad 
to avail myself. He was a Canadian of Russian descent, 
settled at Vladivostok, and now travelling as far as 
Blagovestchensk on the Amur. In the course of our 
conversation he showed me with some pride a new rifle. 
" I don't mean to be caught napping again," he said. I 
asked him what he meant, and it appeared that he and 
another Britisher, whom I had already met, were in 
Blagovestchensk at the time of the panic and the terrible 
massacre of the Chinese by the Russians. One had heard 
so many reports at second hand of this shocking affair, 
that I eagerly embraced the opportunity of correcting 
former impressions. If all were true that I had heard, 
this was the greatest blot on the record of any civilized 
Power during the last century, not excepting the terrible 
massacre at Geok Tepe twenty years earlier. 

To go back to the events of the previous year (1900), 
there seems no doubt that the outbreak in Peking came 
as a complete surprise to the Russians in Manchuria. 



FROM VLADIVOSTOK TO KHABAROVSK 37 

Railway employees and settlers fled precipitately before 
the advance of the Chinese forces, and embarking helter- 
skelter on the Sungari, made their way up the Amur 
to Khabarovsk and Blagovestchensk ; thereupon the few 
troops that could be spared from these towns were hurried 
up the Sungari to Kharbin. 

This left Blagovestchensk partially denuded of soldiers. 
Now, on the opposite or south side of the Amur, was the 
Chinese or Manchu town of Sahalien, or Heh-lung-kiang, 
and twenty-four miles lower down, the town of Aigun. 
One Sunday afternoon, as Mr. S., the other Britisher, was 
walking on the " parade " along the river, shots were fired 
by Chinamen from the opposite side. A few Russian 
soldiers were bathing at the time, and one was hit, but 
only slightly, and during the whole of the supposed bom- 
bardment of the town, not a single Russian, according to 
reliable reports, was wounded in Blagovestchensk. The 
suddenness of the attack in Manchuria, and the fact that 
all but a few soldiers had been withdrawn from the town, 
threw the inhabitants into a panic. At once they besieged 
the authorities, and ransacked the shops for arms. Even 
so, there was great scarcity, and the town was policed by 
men carrying axes. Out of a population of about 30,000, 
5000 or 6000, including many servants, were Chinese. 
Under the circumstances, perhaps it was not surprising 
that the inhabitants of Blagovestchensk should suspect a 
plot between the Chinese on the Manchurian side and 
their compatriots in the town. What was to be done? 
They were harbouring the enemy within their gates — in 
their very homes. The authorities telegraphed to the 
Governor-general at Khabarovsk for instructions, and it 
is said that his reply was, "Kill as in war." Whatever that 
meant, it certainly would not be interpreted by an officer of 
a civilized nation as the slaughter of defenceless inhabitants. 

Outside the town, in the neighbouring villages, were 
about 25,000 Chinese, and it was felt that they might at 



38 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

any time attack the town. Kazaks of the Reserve were 
sent out, and those of the Chinese who had not fled were 
simply massacred, and their homes burnt ; and Mr. S. 
afterwards saw with disgust the Kazaks prodding the 
dead bodies. 

Meanwhile, trenches were hastily dug around the town, 
and a thin line of defence formed by volunteers, but the 
pressing question was, what was to be done with the 
5000 or 6000 Chinese in their midst? They must be 
driven out, and not only driven out, but the river must 
be put between them and the Russians. To send them 
over in boats was to give the unknown Chinese forces on 
the other side means of crossing and attacking the town 
at close quarters. At last orders came, it is disputed from 
whom, to collect and drive the Chinese to a narrow part 
of the Amur above the town, where they were to be ferried 
across. The scenes that followed were heart-rending. 
The proprietor of the Grand Hotel, a Frenchman, had to 
give up his Chinese concierge, a faithful servant, who had 
been with him for seventeen years ; a rich old Chinaman, 
who had had considerable transactions with the Russians, 
many of whom had received striking kindnesses at his 
hands, was hurried along in the crowd of doomed ones. 
Arrived at the river, no ferries were there, and a panic 
seized the small force of Kazaks who were driving the 
5000 to 6000 wretches before them. It has been said by 
Russian officials that rafts were made ; or was the order 
given, and not carried out in the excitement? At the 
point of the bayonet the defenceless victims were forced 
like a flock of sheep into the river. Many, said an old 
resident on the spot, were tied together in fours by their 
queues, and driven up stream. How many thus met their 
sad fate has been disputed, some saying 3000, others 
10,000, but the number given by this same resident was 
5300 driven into the river, of whom perhaps fifty or sixty, 
he added, reached the other side. 






oo 




FROM VLADIVOSTOK TO KHABAROVSK 39 

The current bore the dead bodies down past the town, 
but so many lodged on the banks that, for sanitary reasons 
alone, men with long poles were sent down at night to 
prod the corpses off into mid-stream. The river banks 
for weeks after were strewn with swollen bodies, lying in 
some places over one hundred together. Many travellers, 
including an American professor, have testified to this 
awful state of things ; but we may refer to an unwilling 
witness in the person of General Gribsky, who, in en- 
deavouring to cow the inhabitants of Northern Manchuria, 
issued a proclamation (Times, September 25, 1900), in 
the course of which he boasted that "the water of the 
Amur is polluted by masses of dead bodies of Manchus." 

A much more detailed account of this terrible affair 
has recently appeared in the Russian journal Zarya 
(Dawn), by one who signs himself " Eye-witness." 

I give here a brief outline of it, as it supplements and 
explains the reports of my informants, from which it 
differs but slightly ; while I have purposely kept the 
two accounts separate, in order that the reader may form 
his own judgment from independent testimonies. 

This writer refers, in the first place, to the withdrawal 
of troops to the Sungari river, but adds that, roughly, 
about 1000 regulars were left in Blagovestchensk. Am- 
munition, however, was short. The disturbed state of 
Manchuria found echo in the breasts of the inhabitants, 
and a meeting was called, but the authorities did not 
share these feelings, and rather laughed at their fears. 

Meanwhile, at the Manchu village of Sahalien opposite, 
the inhabitants could be seen drilling, mostly with obsolete 
weapons. Messengers were sent over to inquire what 
this meant, and the reply was that no offence was intended, 
but owing to the disturbed condition of affairs they were 
only making their town secure. 

At this time, a steamboat or two arriving from Kha- 
barovsk reported that they had been hit by stray rifle- 



40 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

shots of the Chinese on the right bank. Nobody, however, 
had been hurt. (If one refers to the Times telegrams of 
the autumn of 1900 from St. Petersburg, there will be 
found an account of bombardments, artillery attacks on 
the steamers, and a glorious campaign ! Our Russian 
writer characterizes these " official " telegrams, without 
qualification, as fiction.) 

Meanwhile, the Chinese in Blagovestchensk, who num- 
bered, according to this writer, about 3000 or 4000, mostly 
merchants and servants, also became alarmed at the anti- 
Chinese feelings aroused, and in fear for their own safety, 
sent a deputation to the Governor of the town. He pooh- 
poohed any notion of danger. In the light of later events 
we know they had only too much reason to fear ; but 
what is not easily understood is, why, if there was no 
such bombardment, as official telegrams afterwards led 
us to suppose, the Russian inhabitants were in such a 
panic. This our Russian eye-witness goes on to explain, 
to clear up the mystery that has reigned here (but not in 
Blagovestchensk, for it is no secret there) over this sad 
affair. He says a number of the most unscrupulous in- 
habitants, in league with the police officials, immediately 
took advantage of the fears that first arose, fanned them 
to a flame, and then, under cover of " definite measures," 
proceeded to do their dastardly work. And why? In 
order to spoil the Chinese merchants, and to absolve them- 
selves from all debts to them under cover of war. It is 
even said that many of the shops were previously honey- 
combed so that, on the expulsion of the Chinese assistants, 
the wares might be abstracted. The popular fear having 
been sufficiently worked upon, the terrible work of 
"defence" began. Harrowing scenes were enacted on 
the river-side. All the Chinese in the town were hauled 
out with the exception of perhaps forty. To their credit, 
some of the richer Russian merchants did their utmost 
to save their faithful Chinese servants, and by bribing or 



FROM VLADIVOSTOK TO KHABAROVSK 41 

disguise succeeded in saving a few from the awful fate 
of their companions. 

The wretched victims, men, women and children, 
cripples, and mothers with babes in their arms, were driven 
to the water-side — some begging not to be killed in this 
dog-fashion, others entreating to be allowed to pray before 
being slain, and yet others falling on their knees and 
raising hands to heaven, offered to embrace Christianity 
if only they were spared ; but one and all, mothers and 
children, old men and cripples, received the one answer, a 
watery grave or cold steel. Rifles and sabres were busy, 
and if a wretch hesitated to plunge into the hopeless 
waters, he was immediately bayoneted. This, our writer 
remarks, is called in the official despatch, " an offer to 
go over ! " 

This slaughter continued for days, and some of the 
methods adopted are characterized as worthy of the 
Inquisition. 

The clergy and the " intelligenti," disgusted at heart, 
adopted an apologetic attitude, for they dared not openly 
criticize the action of the party who were in league with 
the police. They excused the deed by the assertion that 
"if they had not attacked first they would have been 
attacked." 

Meanwhile, the object of the unscrupulous section and 
the police was clearly seen ; and our writer states that not 
merely underlings, but high officials, were implicated. 
The deserted shops and godowns of the Chinese were 
surrounded, and simply looted under guise of protection. 
Money and valuables were shared between the police and 
the unscrupulous, rumours having been carefully spread 
that gunpowder, arms and dynamite had been found in 
the Chinese quarter. 

It was an open secret that this administrative official 
and that police officer had netted so many thousands 
of rubles, even the Russo-Chinese Bank officials being 



42 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

mentioned by name in this matter ; and I happen to know 
that this is a matter of common talk in Blagovestchensk 
to-day. 

Their ghastly work completed, on August 3 the 
Russians crossed the Amur and took Sahalien, which they 
immediately fired, the blaze illuminating the country at 
a great distance for two nights. They then advanced 
into Manchuria, slaying men, women and children, first 
violating and then killing the girls ; and when any criticism 
on the action of the Russians is made in Blagovestchensk 
to-day, the reply is, " Read the horrible doings of the 
German, French and English soldiers in China, and don't 
forget the German Emperor's address to his troops." 

In judging the Russians in this terrible matter, it should 
be remembered that this happened in a very far-off part of 
their dominions, that such a thing could scarcely have 
taken place in European Russia, and that at the time a 
minority of Europeans inadequately armed, were sur- 
rounded by thousands of Chinamen who, if they had 
attacked and captured the town, would have committed 
the most horrible and inconceivable barbarities in torturing 
and killing their victims. Yet when all is said that in 
fairness should be said in palliation of this lamentable 
occurrence, it remains a terrible blot on the records of 
a Power which is always claiming to be included within 
the comity of civilized nations. 

To return to the adventures of the Canadian and 
Englishman whose unpleasant experience did not end in 
Blagovestchensk. Disgusted with the state of affairs and 
anxious to get back to Vladivostok, they determined to 
run the gauntlet. 

With two or three Russians they planned to escape 
to Khabarovsk, which is rather over 600 miles down the 
river. A tarantass and horses were bought, and the chief 
of the police, although he gave his consent, warned them 
of the madness of their venture. At the last moment the 



FROM VLADIVOSTOK TO KHABAROVSK 43 

Russians backed out of it, and the two were left to carry 
out their plans alone. 

Outside the town they found ruined and charred 
villages, and sights too horrible to mention. They came 
upon a Russian who was boasting of having killed three 
Chinese, and at the moment was actually feeding his dog 
on one of the bodies of his victims. When remonstrated 
with, he said he could not get him other food. I have 
seen a photograph of pleasure-parties of Russian ladies 
and officers picnicking among the corpses of the razed 
village of Sahalien. 

Continuing their journey, the two Britishers found the 
post-road and the Russian villages in a disturbed state. 
At the best of times the food to be obtained at an Eastern 
Siberian stantsiya is scanty, but now they suffered the 
actual want of it. Their horses had to be left behind, and 
others were not forthcoming. Skirting the river they 
found a deserted " dug-out " (native canoe), and ventured 
in this light craft on the current of the great Amur. They 
were obliged to hug the northern or Russian shore, but 
even so they had to proceed with great care lest they 
should be shot by the Chinese on the southern shore, or in 
mistake by the Russian sentries on the northern. 

Eventually, worn out by all they had gone through, 
they reached Khabarovsk, and finally Vladivostok, where 
their friends would scarcely credit their story of escape, 
such were the reports of the terrible state of the country 
at the time. 

To return to the Ussuri railway journey, Khabarovsk 
was reached in thirty-one hours, and my fellow passenger 
and I were met by two Americans, one of whom, the 
manager of a store there, was in the habit of assisting 
wandering Anglo-Saxons, and at the same time of enjoying 
a chat with a passing countryman, before winter locked 
him up from the outer world for six months. 

As usual with the Ussuri railway stations, the town 



44 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

was distant some two or three miles. A couple of 
droshkies were hailed, and in these we lurched and 
bounded and all but overturned as they sped along a 
broad, muddy, and deeply rutted track. To add to the 
excitement of the drive some Golds, gaily clad and look- 
ing much like Red Indians, had filled to overflowing 
another droshky, and were enjoying the fun of forcing 
our izvostchik to race them. 

Khabarovsk, or Khabarovka as it was called until 
1893, was founded as a military post in 1858 by Count 
Muraviev-Amursky. The name was chosen by him in 
memory of Khabarov, a great explorer, who in 165 1 de- 
scended the then unknown Amur,* and chose this spot 
at the confluence of the Ussuri and Amur for his fortified 
camp. 

As we have already seen, Russia's naval base in the 
East was transferred from Nikolaevsk to Vladivostok in 
1872, and eight years later the administration of the 
Pri-Amursky region was also removed from the former to 
Khabarovka. This town had become a junction on the 
line of transport from Europe and Siberia to Vladivostok, 
effecting a short cut as compared with that vid its older 
rival. Also in winter, while Nikolaevsk was cut off by an 
unnavigable frozen strait, Khabarovsk was accessible from 
the south by sledges on a post-road, and over the surface 
of the Ussuri. Since 1897, the latter has had the additional 
advantage of the railway south. 

In 1884 came yet another promotion for the youthful 
town, the " Pri-Amursky Oblast," or Amur and Maritime 
region, including the island of Sakhalin, and the littoral 
including Kamtchatka, i.e. from Korea to the Arctic 
Ocean, was cut off from the Oblast of Eastern Siberia, and 
a Governor-general was appointed with his residence at 
Khabarovsk. His house is seen in the illustration. 

As the traveller from Europe approaches the town by 
* Poyarkov discovered it seven years before (1644). 



FROM VLADIVOSTOK TO KHABAROVSK 45 

the Amur, a tall statue stands out prominently from amidst 
the foliage at the bend of the river. It is a striking 
memorial to a no less striking figure in the history of 
Siberia. Count Muraviev-Amursky alone in his day 
realized the future value of the Russian advance in the 
East Laughed at for his enthusiasm even by his royal 
master, he pushed on undismayed, and by organization 
and diplomacy won in 1858 * the Amur region, i.e. the 
country on the left bank of the Amur from the junction 
of the Argun to the mouth of the Amur. While China 
was occupied with the Anglo-French campaign in i860, 
he with Count Ignatiev cleverly added thereto the Primorsk 
or Maritime region, i.e. the country lying south of the 
Amur, west of the Ussuri, and north of Korea. 

Seen from the Amur, up stream, the town in summer 
presents a picturesque appearance from its situation on 
hilly ground ; but my experience of it was under quite 
different circumstances. Approached from the back under 
a pouring rain, which lasted throughout my stay, I had a 
view of vast muddy stretches called roads, and of a far- 

* Treaty of Aigun. In the delimitation of the new boundaries of 
the Russian and Chinese Empires, the French text of this treaty says, 
" La rive gauche du fleuve Amour, a partir de la riviere Argoun 
jusqu'a l'embouchure de l'Amour, appartiendra a PEmpire de Russie, 
et sa droite en aval jusqu'a la riviere Oussouri appartiendra a PEmpire 
Ta-Tsing." The Chinese text, however, instead of saying the left 
bank of the sea-going (fleuve) river Amur to its mouth shall belong to 
Russia, has, " The territory on the left bank of the Amur and Sungari 
rivers from the Argun river to the sea-mouth of the Sungari river 
shall belong to Russia," etc. 

According to European cartographers, the Chinese text would 
have given thus early an undefined area of Manchuria to Russia, and 
Mr. A. Hosie, in his excellent book, " Manchuria," calls attention to 
this " mistake." It was no mistake on the part of the Chinese, nor 
did it involve the giving away of Manchuria. It was only a difference 
of geographical terms. The Chinese regarded the Sungari as the 
more important river, and the Amur, or Weak Water, as they sometimes 
called it, as a tributary. From their junction to the sea, the combined 
river was known to them, not as the Amur, but as the Sungari. 



46 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

west American township. Scattered over a large area are 
a few brick buildings, including the fine railway offices, 
the Governor-general's house, the church and other State 
erections, and a thousand or more wooden houses, from 
the merchants' stores to the Manchu's phctnza. An un- 
developed place, like most Siberian towns, yet it had the 
makings of a fine town, had not Fortune already deserted 
it in the deviation of the Trans-Siberian route through 
Manchuria. 

The population numbers about 16,000, of whom a 
quarter are Chinese, Korean and Gold. The males out- 
number the females by seven to three. 

Life here offers few attractions, a severe winter which 
lasts for seven months, slender communication with the 
outside world, a lack of intellectual society, poor homes, 
and a high rate of living increased by the cost of lengthy 
transport. The average winter temperature is J° below 
zero Fahr., and the average summer temperature 68° Fahr. 
The river remains frozen from about November 8 or 9 until 
April 11 or 12. 

Such is the " capital of Greater Russia," as it has been 
rather unhappily termed. Fate has no immediate future 
for it. Trade and commerce are deserting it, stores have 
been closed up, and it is scarcely likely that the Governor- 
general will be able to resist following suit. He cannot 
afford to remain in a place left high and dry by the 
retreating tide of commerce, and must place himself on 
the main line of communications. A great shuffling of 
cards is no doubt going on, though the secret has been 
well kept. It would, indeed, be an amusing commentary 
on the numerous professions and declarations by Russia 
that Manchuria belongs to China, and that she has no 
designs upon the integrity of that Empire, if the seat of 
administration of Russia's possessions in the East should 
be removed, as is most probable, to a town in her neigh- 
bour's territory. 



FROM VLADIVOSTOK TO KHABAROVSK 47 

Floundering about in the streets in torrential rains, 
walking for 300 yards along the planked and fossed foot- 
ways of the main street in order to find other planks 
upon which to cross the 100-feet sea of mud, was none 
too pleasant an occupation, and determined one to lose 
no time in getting into a pair of Russian top-boots. 
Things looked as dreary indoors. It is true I had been 
assigned " No. 1 " room in the first hotel, which was 
superior to anything I had yet seen in Siberia, although 
I was expected to supply bed-linen. Breakfast was 
hardly up to this standard, for neither milk nor butter was 
forthcoming, and I was fain to make the best of dry bread 
and a glass of tea. For this magnificence I had to pay. 
My bedroom cost me 13^. for one night, plus a charge of 
is. ^d. for candles, meals of course being extra. There 
were four tallow candles in the room, of which I had used 
a small portion of two. This obnoxious if somewhat 
amusing charge for candles used or unused, not unknown 
to travellers on the Continent, but fast dying out there, is 
also doomed in Russia before the introduction of electric 
light, therefore it behoves me not to allow the following 
incident to be lost. An English nobleman staying in a St. 
Petersburg hotel was given a bedroom with a candelabra 
and galaxy of candles. He had used but a fraction of the 
number when he came to leave, but found to his surprise 
that he had been charged for them all, and at twenty 
kopyeks ($d.) each. Putting the unused ones in his pocket 
he descended the stairs, at the foot of which his departure 
was awaited by the usual crowd of would-be tip-receivers 
in a Russian hotel. To their astonishment he presented 
each with a candle, adding, " These candles are very valu- 
able ; they cost me twenty kopyeks each ! " 



CHAPTER IV 
ON THE AMUR 

A lonely post — On the broad bosom of the Amur — Village scenes — 
A 2000-mile sledge journey — Nikolaevsk — A visit to the prison — 
A night affray — " If he moves, shoot him " — Bound for Sakhalin 
at last. 



M 



Y Canadian-Russian acquaintance had driven 
straight to the river, and there through influence 
managed to squeeze on to an already filled boat 
going up to Blagovestchensk. The river was reported full, 
which, however, could not have been the case, for higher 
up, a few days later, steamboats were aground on sand- 
banks. I was in easier case ; there would be no crowded 
cabins or sleeping on deck for me, as I was bound down 
the river on the comparatively little used route to Niko- 
laevsk, or Sakhalin, and "no further." In fact, on the 
second day, I found myself alone with an official who 
was, to put it politely, muddle-headed, and at times 
aggressively so. 

The first day our number was increased by one of the 
Americans met with at Khabarovsk, a Californian. At 
one of the few villages passed, Malmizhkoy by name, we 
dropped him. Here the tributary stream was in flood, 
and he could not get rowed up even in a primitive flat- 
bottomed boat, but had to wait on the chance of being 
sent for. At the gold mine for which he was bound, he 
had no companions but poor Russian emigrants or ex- 
convicts and a few natives. His Russian vocabulary was 

48 



ON THE AMUR 49 

of the meagrest, and there in this out-of-the-world spot in 
Eastern Siberia, frozen up for seven months in the year, 
he had spent a whole year without seeing a person to 
whom he could talk freely. Living like this on poor food, 
mostly fish, he had fallen ill, and in a state of depression 
had determined to throw up his post, but a ten days' stay 
at Khabarovsk had recuperated him, and he was now ready 
to face another winter's banishment. A superintendent 
engineer for an old-established English gold-mining com- 
pany, with its offices — it did sound rather odd — in Token- 
house Yard, he had not always been stationed so long in 
one spot, but had travelled in the Okhotsk district among 
its many wild tribes, the dog-Tungus, the Manguns, the 
Koryaks, and the Chukchis. 

How impossible it is to convey the impression this 
mighty river makes upon one! If we include its main 
tributary, the Argun, it is over 3000 miles long, and 
navigable for steamboats as far as Stretensk on its other 
great tributary, the Shilka, i.e. for 2050 miles. 

At Khabarovsk, which is 650 miles from its mouth, 
it is more than a mile wide, and on the way it opens out, 
spreads into many channels, forms islands, and in some 
places broadens to five or six miles in width. A wonderful 
sight is this vast expanse of water, with a low-lying black 
line on the horizon, encircling us as if we were in the 
centre of a great lake. 

Four days I spent on this great river, with the delight- 
ful feeling that one was moving ever into the unknown. 
The banks were low and swampy, lined with willows, and 
backed by limitless forests of birch, poplar and larch. 
No hills were in sight, only miles upon miles of forest, 
untrodden save for the foot of the native hunter or more 
rarely a venturesome gold-seeker. 

The first day was a time of pouring rain and of rough, 
wind-swept waters, followed on the morrow by a cloudless 
sky and a still surface. There is yet another aspect, which 

E 



50 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

I expected to see later, when — frozen hard and ice-bound 
— a deep white mantle covers it and all the country 
round, and more than ever makes of the scene one great 
lone land. 

The third day brought us glorious sunshine and hills, 
for the Sikhota Alin range from the south began to send its 
spurs as outriders to meet us, and suddenly, at a bend where 
lies the village of Bor, they pushed their way down to the 
river, narrowing it to about two-thirds of a mile. At this 
abrupt bend, a gale of wind met us, and we could make 
out a storm cone-signal in this wild spot on the top of 
the towering cliff. The river had become a tossing sea, 
which lasted for about a quarter of an hour, when almost 
at once we were in still water again. 

At night, a light or two at the head of a swampy islet 
warned our steersman of the shifting channels, and some- 
times by day we would spy the tiny boat of the lantern- 
trimmer on his lonely round. 

Villages were few and far between. We stopped about 
every sixty miles for fuel, a lengthy business, as we had 
to turn and head up the river to allow our four barges to 
swing round and lie down stream. Soon after leaving 
Khabarovsk we had attached four barges, two of them 
laden with 300 convicts bound for Sakhalin. A few wig- 
wams of the Gold tribe, and very rarely a tiny hamlet, were 
passed. The villages of log-huts, each with its brightly 
painted green and white church and posting-inn, or 
stantsiya, looked their best in the brilliant sunshine, and 
I forgot the loneliness of the long frost-bound winter, the 
thousands of miles separation from friends and home. 
Long boats, made of three planks only, curving high at 
bow and stern, and copied from the native canoe, pushed 
off as we anchored a few yards from the shore. They 
were paddled by rough-bearded men in jack-boots and 
red rubashka (shirt), and women barefooted, with gaily 
kerchiefed head, or by Golds decked out in their brightly 



ON THE AMUR 51 

embroidered toggery. The third-class passengers on our 
steamboat, mostly emigrants or peasants, leaned over the 
rail of the lower deck eagerly scanning the contents of 
the boats. As the latter came alongside, there was a 
chattering and bargaining and a passing from above 
and below of greasy ruble notes, bottles of milk, eggs, 
and slabs of smoked fish two feet long. It was just 
such a scene, though under a very different sky, as I 
had witnessed off the Malabar coast of India, where, 
putting into some palm-girt, sandy bay, canoes manned 
by semi-naked figures put out to barter with the hungry 
and thirsty third-class passengers who crowded the lower 
decks of the coasting vessel bound for Goa, offering 
green cocoanuts for drink, and stalks of sugar-cane for 
meat. 

At one village the vessel was able to approach near 
enough to connect the shore with planks, and while stacks 
of fuel were being slowly transferred to our decks, the 
women-folk with their babes gladly went ashore, kindled 
a fire, and made a hearty breakfast on terra firma. At 
another village, the priest, with his long locks and rusty, 
threadbare cassock, put off to help unload and count the 
sacks of flour for the winter's supply. The land was too 
wet here to allow of corn being grown. The poor colonists 
therefore relied on fish, vegetables grown in their patches 
of garden, and the produce of their cattle, pigs, or poultry ; 
and last, but not least, the arrival of winter provisions by 
the boat. An occasional failure of transport in past years 
had resulted in terrible privations. 

The settlements occupy a mere strip on the edge of 
the bank, carved out, or more literally, burnt out, of the 
forest, just broad enough to stand their log-houses on, 
and to give feed to their cows. In summer the one event 
of the week is the calling steamer, but in winter even this 
is denied them. Outside, deep snow covers everything on 
river and banks alike, and there is nought to be done in 



52 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

field or garden. Rarely is the sleeping village disturbed 
by the mails, or by an official travelling in hot haste, who 
arrives at the little post-station on his iooo or 2000 miles' 
sledge journey upon the ice-bound river, changes horses, 
and is gone as swiftly as he came. 

As we glided eastward and ever eastward on the broad 
bosom of the mighty Amur, to the right and left stretched 
the same limitless forests, the home of the bear and the 
deer, with a few huts of the Golds or Gilyaks making the 
loneliness more lonely by contrast. This, the third day 
of our river journey, had been brilliant throughout, and 
now the sun was setting in all its glory. How can one 
describe a sunset on the Amur ! We were floating on a 
silvery expanse under a harvest-golden sky, on which a 
celestial hand in gathering had left a few dusky, fleecy 
clouds. Below stretched an undulating horizon of moun- 
tains, limned in black, and between us and them rose an 
ever-heightening slope, crowned with a fringe of firs 
filigreed against the steely blue into which the gold was 
paling. 

We had reached and passed Sophisk, where the river, 
running thus far in a north-easterly direction, suddenly 
trends north. If the reader looks at the map, he will 
see that, if this were not so, the Amur would find outlet 
between Sophisk and Marinsk in De Castries Bay. As it 
is, it turns north, flows parallel with the coast, and delays 
its discharge into the Straits of Tartary for more than 200 
miles. How narrowly it escapes emptying itself into De 
Castries Bay is not generally known. 

Later on I had opportunities of landing twice in this 
bay ; and there I learned that a hill of only 150 feet 
separates through water-communication between the Amur 
and the Straits of Tartary. This does not, of course, 
represent the barrier to be destroyed to permit of com- 
munication by canal. It simply means that natives pro- 
ceeding from Lake Kizi, into which the Amur overflows at 



ON THE AMUR 53 

Marinsk, up a stream which descends from a hill on the 
east, have only to drag their canoes over a crest of 150 
feet, to find another stream running down on the western 
slope into the Straits of Tartary, near De Castries Bay. 
Marinsk is about thirty miles as the crow flies from the 
sea, and a track connects this and Sophisk with the 
telegraph-station in the bay. Communication is made in 
winter, so the telegraph-chief at De Castries told me, by 
dog-sledges. Lake Kizi, which is 27 miles long, has 
doubtless been formed by great floods on the river Amur 
at some time unknown. 

A fog settled down upon us soon after leaving 
Marinsk, and compelled us to anchor for the night, for 
the land on the left bank was low and flooded for miles, 
and the shifting of currents rendered navigation difficult. 

The fourth day our course was north-westerly for 
twenty miles or so, until we came to a sudden bend of 
the river at the native village of Tir, whence the river 
flows due east. At Tir, on some rocks on the hilltop, are 
strange inscriptions, which have been variously interpreted. 
Some have asserted that they are Chinese characters, 
and witness to the ancient limits of that great Empire ; 
others, and this seems more probable, hold that they are 
a Niuchen or Mongolian inscription of the famous Buddhist 
invocation, " Om mani padmi horn " (Oh, the jewel in the 
lotus). 

At Tir, a great tributary, the Amgun river, on which 
there are gold workings, joins the parent stream. Four 
hours later, on the afternoon of the fourth day, our vessel, 
casting off its sorry burden of convicts, crept up to the 
pristan or wharf at Nikolaevsk. 

Here I learnt to my chagrin that the steamer for 
Vladivostok via Sakhalin had already departed, the fog 
of the previous night having cost me my connexion. 
Hope dawned again when I bethought me of the mails 
and convicts, and I inquired how they would be despatched. 



54 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

" Oh ! " was the reply, " We expect another vessel in 
sixteen days ! " If there is one thing to be learnt in the 
East, it is never to hurry, but to take things as they come. 
It takes a long time to become proficient, and to cure one's 
self of the besetting sin of making definite plans. Bred 
up in the ignorance of the West, I had always regarded 
mails with awe and respect. Visions floated before my 
eyes of the daring deed of Mr. Gladstone, stopping the 
Irish Mail near Hawarden one night, despite all warnings 
of the signalman, in order to obey the command of the 
Queen ; and of the Pennsylvanian and New York Central 
railways racing for the mail contracts. 

To wait sixteen days was out of the question. " Could 
I not," I asked, in my ignorance, " cross the river and post 
down the coast to the narrowest part of the Straits of 
Tartary (which separate the mainland from Sakhalin), and 
there cross over in a native boat and continue my journey 
by post to Alexandrovsk, the chief place on the island ? " 
It was their turn to be astonished now. " You would be 
killed and eaten by the natives ! " they said. I little knew 
then that impenetrable forests barred my way to Cape 
Lazarev on the mainland, and that no posting track existed 
either there, or on the island from Cape Pogobi. That 
natives might mistake me without escort for a brodyaga 
(a passportless vagabond or escaped convict), and capture, 
or even shoot me, was just possible, but that they were 
cannibal was either pure invention or legend born of 
ignorance. 

" No ! don't worry yourself," was the advice of the 
manager of the branch of the Russo- Chinese Bank ; "we 
shall hear if a steamer puts in that is likely to call at 
Sakhalin, though few do, as there is nothing for them to go 
for, excepting coal, and the lading of that is always an 
uncertain business." This did not sound hopeful. Mean- 
while, what was to be done ? To wait possibly sixteen 
days, probably more — for dates are elastic in East Siberia — 



ON THE AMUR 55 

would involve being stopped by the frozen river at some 
out-of-the-way spot on the return journey up the Amur. 
The river naturally freezes earlier at its upper waters than 
at the mouth. Towards the end of October * floating 
blocks of ice are met with, and almost suddenly, with little 
other warning, the steamer finds itself ice-bouud. Six 
weeks or two months must elapse before the surface 
throughout its length, in the lower reaches as well as the 
upper, can be declared safe for troiki (three-horse teams, 
attached in winter to sledges). Heavy snowfalls are 
experienced at Nikolaevsk and in the coastal region, 
mainly in December, the white pall lying from three to 
nine feet deep. Three feet of snow present considerable 
difficulties to progress, and render it impossible for horses 
to flounder any distance through it. In December, there- 
fore, the post-master of each little Government stantsiya, 
or post-house, twenty to twenty-five versts (13 to 16J miles) 
apart, stakes out a course, with pine branches on the snow- 
covered frozen surface of the river, when it is sufficiently 
hard. In doing this he is assisted by the village to village 
traffic, which is somewhat insignificant it is true, and a 
narrow track within this course gets beaten down. This 
done the authorities give notice that the road is open, and 
a few military officers, and here and there a merchant or 
engineer whose business will not wait, venture on their 
long and trying journey. Sledging over the smooth white 
surface to the galloping of three spirited steeds and the 
merry peal of bells, sounds a most delightful experience, 
and so it is if taken in small doses for pleasure ; but it is 
another story when long distances are travelled. In that 
case you go on day after day, night after night, stiff and 
sore, cold and numb, seizing the opportunity of the two- 
hourly change of horses — and of sledges if you have not 

* The dates given throughout are according to the English style, 
unless otherwise stated. The difference is thirteen days, e.g. October 8, 
Russian or old style (o.S.) = October 21, English or new style (n.s.)« 



56 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

been wise enough to buy one — to drink a glass of hot tea, 
chafing at a delay which, nevertheless, is all too short to get 
thawed in. By day, by night, unhasting you go, counting 
the weary versts which, though they speed by at the rate 
of two hundred a day, seem so slow in mounting to thou- 
sands. Then comes a check, and you arrive at a stantsiya 
to find the post-horses already taken by officials. There 
is nought to be done. The night must be spent here. At 
least you will have the opportunity of a rest, for hitherto 
you have had to snatch an hour or two's sleep when 
travelling on smooth stretches. But peering into the room 
you find the floor crowded with the sleeping forms of 
muzhiki, and an atmosphere that is staggering. There is 
not a vacant space, and even if there were, you reflect that 
if Russians are immune to asphyxia an Englishman is not. 
Stiff and cold you wrap yourself in furs and elect to pass 
the night outside. A Russian, whom I met in Sakhalin, and 
whom I will call Mr. Y., set out only this last winter (January 
1903) to sledge this journey which I had just completed 
by steamer — the 623 miles from Khabarovsk to Nikolaevsk. 
He was making the journey in the opposite direction, and 
so bad was the weather that he only accomplished it in 
twelve days. Soon after he had left Nikolaevsk a buran, 
or great snowstorm, enveloped him, his team, and every- 
thing around. The horses struggled on gallantly, the 
izvostchik whipping and urging them on ; but the snow 
grew deeper and deeper as they proceeded, until the poor 
floundering creatures could go no further. There was 
nothing to be done but to loose the horses, mount them bare- 
backed, leaving the sledge and baggage in the snow, and 
make their way as best they could through the blinding 
fall to the nearest stantsiya. This is' slow travelling for 
sledges, as the mails reckon to cover on the Amur, despite 
all delays for changing horses, on an average 250 versts, or 
166 miles, in the twenty-four hours ; while in the journey 
from St. Petersburg to Yakutsk before railways existed, the 



ON THE AMUR 57 

9000 versts (nearly 6000 miles) was performed in twenty- 
eight days, or at the rate of 213 miles a day. But for long 
distances such rapid journeys are not to be attempted 
by the traveller, unless he wishes to become a wreck ; 
it is advisable to sleep at nights where stantsiyas offer 
possible accommodation. Mr. S., the Englishman who 
escaped from Blagovestchensk, undertook, before the time 
of railways, the tremendous journey from the Ural moun- 
tains to Yakutsk, and managed it in this fashion in six 
weeks. 

In severe winters, however, there are times when the 
cold at night is too intense for one to proceed. When the 
thermometer records — 3 5 Fahr., and your izvostchik gets 
frost-bitten, and the frozen breath of the horses chokes 
their nostrils, compelling the driver to descend every 
quarter of an hour to free them, then it is time to give 
up and wait for the sharp spell to abate. 

There was little time in which to decide whether to 
return at once or run all the risks that delay would involve, 
for the steamboat by which I had come was leaving in four 
hours. The question, however, was decided for me, for the 
berths had all been taken by those who were anxious 
to return before navigation became uncertain. 

The town of Nikolaevsk, in which I now found my- 
self stranded for an unknown period, was founded on 
August 6, 1850, by Captain Nevelskoy, acting without 
instructions from headquarters, for it was not until 1858 
that the Treaty of Aigun gave this, the left bank of the 
Amur, to Russia. I have already referred to the severe 
blow it received when, in 1872, the naval base was trans- 
ferred to Vladivostok, and again when the administration 
of the province was removed to Khabarovsk. 

The town, which is perched on the rugged slope of the 
northern bank of the Amur, consists mainly of one broad 
street or road with one offshoot down to the pristan, and 
a few parallel green tracks. The main street contains half 



58 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

a dozen well-built wooden structures, Including the church, 
the Russo-Chinese Bank, and some merchants' stores. There 
are a few shops and residences of officials, the rest are log- 
houses straggling away into the scrub and forest, out of 
which the site of Nikolaevsk has been carved. At the foot 
is the collection of wooden wharves, which in the autumn 
present quite a busy scene. An Amur steamboat is in, 
three or four steamers bringing provisions, tea, flour, etc., 
for the winter are lying in mid-stream, huge lighters, which 
I am told were made in England, are being tugged ashore, 
while a small fleet of schooners rides at anchor higher up 
stream waiting for their annual load of fish for Japan. 

Yet Nikolaevsk wears a triste look. The two prison 
buildings, with their dingy, forbidding-looking stockades, 
frown upon you, and the deserted old rambling wooden 
houses of the admiral and military officials tell of its 
fallen fortunes. As I wandered about the place, I could 
not resist the feeling of oppression in the air. It was, as if 
the inhabitants were allowed their liberty — a very modified 
form of it — by the officials, only on sufferance. What a 
contrast to merry, happy Japan, and the gay village scenes 
there, and the Japanese pride in their police and military ! 
Of course, it should be remembered that besides officials 
there were scarcely fifty Russians who were not ex-convicts. 
This explained the presence of strange-visaged Jehus, 
whose faces haunted me until I remembered pictures of 
these Judas-looking countenances, and wrote them down 
at once as Kirghiz from Trans-Caspia. 

By one of these I was driven up in a " fiddle-back " to 
the chief inn of the place. The " fiddle-back " I should 
describe without exaggeration as a car specially designed 
for the discomfort of the passenger. It has a cloth-covered 
ridge, or backbone, with a step on each side. I proposed 
to sit astride, on seeing it, en cavalier, but I soon learnt 
that it was customary to squat on whatever space was 
left by a passenger on the opposite side, and to cling on 



ON THE AMUR 59 

as successfully or unsuccessfully as might be, while the 
horses bounded over tracks that reminded one of a building 
estate. 

At the ramshackle wooden inn of one storey, I again 
had the honour of occupying " No. I " room. Two windows 
gave on to a yard, in which the presence and music of pigs 
contributed to the pleasures of existence. The room 
was comfortably furnished for these parts, that is, there 
were some chairs, a couple of tables and a bedstead, for 
which I supplied my own bedding. Of course, the floor 
was bare, and as I found decent food difficult to obtain, I 
camped out in my room, drawing largely on my stores of 
tinned foods. 

Strolling out in the evening, I met a band of sorrowful 
women and children, some carrying babes, escorted by 
soldiers. These were the wives and families of convicts 
going out to Sakhalin. 

This feeling of oppression dogged me still, and I sought 
relief in wandering on to the neighbouring moorlands, 
where I could breathe freely, and gaze with forgetfulness 
on the broad flowing river beneath, and the great forest- 
clad hills opposite. 

It was one of those first impressions which are soon 
lost. It is strange how quickly one becomes accus- 
tomed unconsciously to new situations. Those who have 
travelled know this well, but those who have not been 
far from their native land make a great mistake if they 
imagine that the novel impressions of strange conditions 
last long. I have gone ashore in Korea, and had to pull 
myself up suddenly with the reminder that I was not 
sauntering in a Surrey or Devonshire lane, but that thou- 
sands of miles separated me from old England. So it 
was, that first evening at Nikolaevsk ; I returned to the 
inn, where not a soul spoke anything but Russian, and 
mechanically sat down with my books, quite unconscious 
of the 1 2,000 versts which separated me from London. 



60 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

The next morning, in strolling down to the wharves 
at the foot of the town, I came across some rude shanties 
which I will dignify with the title of market. People were 
trudging along carrying great circular nine-pound loaves 
of black bread, or gleaming salmon, freshly caught. I 
wondered if there was any beef to be had — there are no 
sheep hereabouts — for the previous day not a scrap of meat 
was to be obtained. The shanties exhibited a mixed lot 
of articles. Each was a " Whiteley " on a small scale, 
decked out with a motley collection — Russian long boots, 
horses' collars, dirty furs, kettles and hardware, and a toy 
bagatelle board ! Perhaps they tickled my sense of the 
fitness of things less than the native bazar at Darjiling, 
where, within a hundred miles of the borders of Tibet, 
and surrounded by natives of many lands, Tibetans, 
Bhotans, Bhotanese, Nepaulese and Hindus, amid a col- 
lection of charm-boxes, prayer-wheels, etc., stood two 
plaster statuettes of Gladstone and Disraeli ! 

By the pristan were moored some barges, with flights 
of steps inviting would-be customers to descend. A fox- 
skin or a pair of felt top-boots for winter's snows, 
dangled from a line on deck to tempt purchasers. The 
owners of these are the modern representatives of the 
old-time pedlars, with this difference, that they travel with 
a barge instead of a basket. Starting in spring from 
Stretensk, 2025 miles up the river, and leisurely drifting 
down stream, calling at the little villages en route — a great 
event in the village economy, especially to the female 
inhabitants — they finally fetch up at Nikolaevsk, where 
they moor for the last time. There a trade is done until 
autumn warns the pedlars to be gone, when, jobbing off 
the rest of their stock, including the barges, the timbers 
of which come in useful for trottoirs, they catch the steamer 
back to Stretensk ere the river freezes. I believe that the 
corn-barges of Western Siberia and the coal-barges on the 
Mississippi are similarly disposed of at the journey's end. 



ON THE AMUR 61 

I had not been more than a day or two in Nikolaevsk, 
before I discovered an old white-haired American, who had 
been a captain in the employ of the long-extinct Russian- 
American Company, which, founded under Imperial 
patronage in 1798, played a similar role to that of the 
Hudson's Bay Company, until 1868, a year after the cession 
of Alaska to the United States. 

As he was about to pay a visit to a fishery at the mouth 
of the Amur, near Pronge Point, he offered to take me. 
For thirty-nine years he had been voyaging in these parts, 
and seventeen of these he had spent whaling in the 
Okhotsk Sea, where his home and family were, for he 
had married a Tungus woman. In those days, when his 
vessel was frozen up in the Bay of Okhotsk, clad in 
furs and snow-shoes, he would start out to traverse the 
wilds of this almost unknown country between Okhotsk 
and Nikolaevsk. Taking with him a small store of flour, 
sugar and tea, he relied on his gun for the flesh of deer, 
wolf, or bear. Such a journey generally occupied about 
twenty-five days, and often, he said, he went for as many 
as sixteen days without meeting a single soul. 

Now he had command of a tiny steamer which plied 
up and down the Amgun, taking provisions and fetching 
gold from the mine, when the state of the river allowed. 
On the forecastle, just below the bridge, was a heavily 
clamped iron coffer, which held the gold-dust and nuggets. 
This, with the rough, drunken, and lawless-looking crew, put 
the finishing touch to it as the picture of a pirate vessel. 

At the mouth of the Amur, the owners of the vessel 
(the chief partner was the son of a convict) were making 
the first attempt at salmon-canning in Siberia. The chief 
occupation of the poor is fishing, and in the month of 
August, at spawning-time, salmon (Salmo lagocephalus) and 
shad swarm. Some idea of their abundance may be 
gathered from the fact that the prices fixed by the 
municipality at Nikolaevsk for a moderate-sized salmon, 



62 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

say eighteen pounds, was six kopyeks {i\d.). Salted, it 
forms the staple food of the natives and poor Russians. 
To lack of variety, the absence of vegetables, which will 
not grow in Nikolaevsk, and the unhealthy conditions 
of living, must be attributed the leprosy among the Rus- 
sians on the Amur. A few years back there was no 
accommodation for these lepers, and many suffered from 
want of food, or lay untended, but now there is a properly 
constructed leper-house two or three miles from Niko- 
laevsk. So plentiful are the fish that I have seen Rus- 
sians spearing the salmon from the banks ; but on the 
journey from Khabarovsk down the Amur, the usual 
method appeared to be to build a wattle-weir projecting 
into the stream, and just visible above the surface of the 
water. At the mid-stream end was fixed a " set " net, 
into which the fish crowded as they hurried round the 
corner. A boatman sat waiting until the net was heavy 
with its living freight, when he hauled it up, and emptied 
the catch into his boat. At Pronge, seine-nets were being 
used, a good average haul of the net yielding 3000. The 
native village of Pronge is really in the Straits of Tartary, 
just round the southern foreland at the mouth of the Amur, 
but the temporary Russian fishing settlement is situated 
on the right or southern bank of the river just before one 
reaches the headland. Our little vessel threaded its way 
very gingerly between the sandbanks and shoals, past the 
batteries, and then by miles of forest-clad slopes, the home 
of the bear and reindeer, to the little settlement where the 
great river broadens out until it is eight miles wide from 
head to head. 

A few log-huts, and a native shelter or two of pine- 
branches, and a wooden jetty in embryo, told of our arrival 
at the curing-station. Until then, I had thought our crew 
were a rough lot, but they were quiet and respectable com- 
pared with the ex-convicts on shore. Several boarded our 
vessel, and three of them burst into my cabin, but satisfied 



ON THE AMUR 63 

themselves with staring long at me as though I were a 
strange new animal, and departed. 

On shore we found them busily cutting up and cleaning 
the salmon before plunging them into the pickling vats. 
Most of this salted salmon goes to supply Eastern Siberia, 
the emigrant population, and the convicts, and some is 
exported to Japan in casks. The scrupulous cleanliness 
which the English public demands in the preparation of 
food to-day, and which machinery ensures, could not be 
expected here. 

If similar methods are to be employed in the canning 
of salmon that were used in the curing of the salted article, 
then tinned salmon, at least the Russian article, will be- 
come a food to be avoided more than ever. The Siberian, 
I had almost said Russian, is well known for his want of 
personal cleanliness of living, notwithstanding the weekly 
bath that we are constantly reminded of. Russian writers 
may point to this as evidence of the cleanliness of the 
muzhik, but no one can accuse the poorer population — and 
their number is legion — of cleanly personal habits, and to 
have your food prepared on a wild spot with no con- 
veniences, and by the lowest rabble of Russia, is sufficient 
disqualification for the article in question. 

We landed a large number of tins of vodka for the 
men, who would not have worked without it any more than 
English harvesters without their beer or cider. These 
were stored for safety in the wooden hut of the foreman, 
under our eyes, and as I sat on a box watching this opera- 
tion, I didn't envy the position of that man. What was 
there to prevent these rough, cut-throat-looking individuals 
from taking his life and helping themselves ? 

Outside the scene was a wild though picturesque one. 
The sun was setting, the broad expanse of water was 
silvering, and behind us darkness was shrouding in mystery 
the primeval forest. On the shore strange uncouth figures 
in great boots and shaggy astrakhan caps were gathering 



64 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

round the fires. A great pot of fish hung in the flames, 
and a solitary woman was griddling greasy blini (pan- 
cakes). 

The captain and I put off with a freshly caught salmon 
to our vessel, and after a repast prepared by the Chinese 
4< boy," I lay down and tried to sleep, the while a drunken 
party from the shore grumbled and thumped and swore 
over my head. The next morning, as soon as daylight 
allowed us, we threaded our way back. 

It seemed a comparatively civilized life to come back 
to in Nikolaevsk, though when told that the single line of 
telegraph wire has been broken for a week, and that tele- 
grams to St. Petersburg take not infrequently a month, 
and letters two and a half months, you do not feel in 
closest touch with the civilized world. 

On the following morning, as I was down on the wharf, 
I found that the convicts, whom we had towed down the 
river, were being disembarked. Their names, crimes, and 
sentences were being called out, and the prisoners came 
forward in turn and marched out of the shed to join their 
companions, who were lined up with soldiers in front and 
to the rear of them. As each came forward, I had leisure 
to examine his face and general appearance. All wore 
unbleached cotton rubashka and trousers, shoes and socks, 
or strips of cloth wound " putty "-fashion round their legs. 
Over all they had the khalat y or long ulster-like garment of 
frieze, excepting one or two, who may have bartered it for 
a mess of pottage. 

Some had diamond-shaped coloured patches let in to 
the back of their kkalati, the colour indicating the prison 
district from which they came ; yellow, for instance, being 
the Moscow colour. On their heads were brown frieze 
caps, and round their ankles chains. These are long but 
not heavy, weighing barely seven pounds, and they can be 
hitched up to the waist, so as not seriously to impede 
walking. On their shoulders they bore their worldly 



ON THE AMUR 65 

possessions, in bundles of varying sizes, and in their hands 
or at their belts were the inevitable samovars or kettles, 
and pots. 

Their faces were not prepossessing, though very few had 
the villainous features one might have expected to see. I 
thought I descried some Jews, and more than one follower 
of the Prophet, these latter, Kirghiz, from Tashkend and 
neighbourhood. As they came forward to join the lines, 
laughing and talking or calling to their companions, and 
interchanging remarks with the sentries, I wondered at the 
freedom allowed. One raised a laugh all round. He was 
the solitary proud possessor of a box, padlocked and all, 
which he bore on his head. A titter went round when a 
soldier, asking what it contained,the prisoner replied "Gold." 

When the 300 had all passed out and ranged up, four 
deep, facing me, the seventy odd soldiers took up position 
— right turn — and with a sudden painful jangling of 
chains, the miserable column moved off and up the street 
to the prison. One only of the convicts did I see who 
was without boots. The march was not hurried, and the 
soldiers considerately allowed the prisoners to pick their 
way along the muddy road. 

Official strictness is considerably relaxed as one gets 
further east in Siberia. Three weeks before, the famous 
student Gubermann had arrived, and the inhabitants, struck 
by his story and his fine erect bearing, which marked him 
out among the slouching figures of criminals, collected 
twenty guineas on the spot for him. 

His was a marvellous story of imprisonment and escape. 
According to my informant, and I give the story as he told 
it me, Gubermann was incarcerated in the Schliisselburg 
near St. Petersburg, in 1896, for taking part in political 
disturbances. Released after one year and a half, he was 
again involved in 1898, and sent with a batch of students 
to the Baikal region. They decided to send one of 
their number with messages to their former companions 

F 



66 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

in Moscow. The lot fell upon him, and, notwithstanding 
the truly remarkable vigilance of the Russian police, he 
escaped, and once more joined in the riots of 1900. Arrested 
yet again, he was sent to Sakhalin. There one morning I 
was hurrying past the prison at Alexandrovsk, when I saw 
a crowd gathering and officials driving up in haste. Going 
over to make inquiries, I learnt that Gubermann had been 
creating a disturbance, in the course of which he had 
accused the Chief of the prison of theft. 

His brother exiles thought he was suffering from over- 
strain. The accusation may have been true, but no good 
would come of making it, and all might suffer for his 
ill-timed protests. 

The second day after their disembarkation, by permis- 
sion of the Ispravniky I visited some of the prisoners 
in their new quarters. Some had been taken to the new, 
but more to the old prison. The former combined the 
functions of an etape or perisilni, and a gubernski. 

The e'tape is a resting-place en route where the prisoners 
generally sleep two nights, while at a polu etape, or half 
(way) dtape> they spend one night. A perisilni serves a 
similar purpose, but for a longer time. A stay of weeks or 
months is sometimes necessitated by irregular communica- 
tions, or some other reason, preventing immediate continua- 
tion of the journey. A gubernski is a gaol for local 
offenders. The new prison was constructed for sixty- 
seven, but with a few local offenders now contained 120. 
The old prison was described by Mr. H. de Windt as he 
saw it seven years earlier, in 1894, as "a rickety wooden 
structure, rotting with age, and by no means weather-proof. 
It is now seldom used," he adds, " save for local offenders. 
I found only nine inmates." This was now crowded out 
with 300. The Chief of the police did not wish me to 
see it, as can readily be imagined, and he procrastinated 
with such success that before I could bring him to the 
point, I had to seize the opportunity of getting over 



ON THE AMUR 67 

to Sakhalin ; but the description I received on the spot 
of the filthy condition of this forwarding station was 
too disgusting for me to repeat. This state of things 
was what met the miserable wretches in past years. 
Hungry and weary after a long day's march, hopeless 
and fearful, failing the scramble to obtain one of the 
miserable plank resting-places, they had to lie on the filthy 
floor, thankful if there a stronger neighbour didn't crush 
them, for the most brutal-tongued and hard-fisted got the 
best place, the timid and weak went to the wall. 

But this is no longer a true picture of Siberian prisons 
or etapeS) or only in very exceptional cases ; and here a 
special cause was at work producing, let us hope, exceptional 
conditions. 

The ukaz abolishing deportation was to come into 
force on January 1 (O.S.), 1902, necessitating considerable 
alterations in the prison buildings throughout the Empire. 
There wanted but four months to January 1, and prisoners 
bound for Sakhalin were being hurried on before the frost 
set in to block navigation. 

Driving up with a Russian companion to the house of 
the Chief of the prison, we were ushered in. There we 
waited for a considerable time, during which I suppose 
finishing touches were being made in the prison for thebenefit 
of the English visitor. At last the chief appeared, and we 
walked across to the sombre-looking building. A stockade 
of pine poles, twenty feet high, like gigantic pencils with 
sharpened ends upwards, formed the outer enclosure, the 
entrance to which was guarded by saluting sentries. Inside 
the square was the long prison building, divided lengthwise 
by a corridor, off which doors heavily bolted and padlocked 
opened into different-sized rooms or kamerL 

We entered this building, the prison master, my com- 
panion and myself, guarded by three soldiers armed, two 
of them with bayonets and the other with pistol and sword. 
The first room which the warder unlocked was small, as 



68 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

nearly as I could judge 14 x 16 feet, and contained nine 
local accused waiting their trial for minor offences. They 
included natives (Gilyaks) and Koreans, and wore their 
ordinary dress. 

Their beds were of sloping planks with straw mattresses 
and pillow, a dirty-looking sheet and frieze blanket, yet 
these were doubtless quite as good as anything they were 
used to. The air was heavy, and in nearly all the kameri 
the iron-barred windows were tightly closed, for the Russian 
does love warmth. 

The next cell contained a very different class of inhabi- 
tants, viz. convicted criminals going on to Sakhalin. Some 
had already been here a long time, others had just arrived 
the day before. Several of them had rough, repellent 
faces, with lowering brows, piercing eyes, unkempt hair, 
and wore dirty clothes, and iron fetters polished bright by 
much wear. Altogether they presented the picture of 
abasement. I experienced a curious sensation as the door 
of the kamera was flung open, and the prisoners rose clank- 
ing their chains ere the soldiers had time to close around 
us. The prison master made some remarks, and one man 
complained that " he had not had a bath for six months, 
and was covered with vermin." The master flew into a 
passion, and swore at him. The visit of a stranger is an 
opportunity for prisoners to make complaints, whether 
genuine or not, but the behaviour of the master lent con- 
firmation rather than otherwise to the convict's statement, 
and caused me to take his own remarks cum grano, when 
showing me the bath-house, he declared that the prisoners 
had baths twice a week. 

Another prisoner of gentler disposition, who wore 
spectacles, asked if he might have his chains struck off, 
and be permitted to help in the kitchen. His term had 
expired, and he might have gone free in Nikolaevsk, but 
what would he have done there in an utterly strange place ? 
He might even have required protection himself. 



3 

On 
OO 




ON THE AMUR 69 

The next room was about 20 X 16 feet, and contained 
as many as twenty-five. The inmates slept on the floor, 
covered by whatever their bundles yielded. I asked whether 
they had a blanket in winter, but was assured that the 
rooms were sufficiently heated. The prisoners crowded 
round us, and I learned in answer to questions of the 
prison master that they had been three months tramping 
from Nerchensk, 2075 miles, with an occasional lift on 
barges towed by a steamer. 

Just as we were turning to leave, a tall not unpleasant- 
looking prisoner stepped forward and asked, " Where does 
the barin come from ? " " America," replied the master. 
I corrected him. " Don't they treat the prisoners better in 
England ? " To which I believe the reply was, " No, they 
hang such as you ! " — which was probably true. 

Some of the men complained that they wanted more 
to eat. To this came the indignant reply, " They have 
plenty, the ruffians ! " The regulations for food in Russian 
prisons are good, and compare well as to quantity with 
other countries, but the quantity and quality of food which 
reaches the prisoner is quite another story in far Siberia. 
There are two causes which tend to bring this about ; an 
insufficient monetary allowance in the face of local con- 
ditions, in other words, scarcity or dearness of foods, 
and " leakages," for which officials are responsible. At 
Nikolaevsk meat is dear and vegetables scarce, therefore 
salted fish and black bread form the staple diet of the 
criminals. Owing to the absence of transport during 
winter, the accumulation of provisions results sometimes 
in the fish being a year old before it is consumed, and, 
unfortunately, it is less palatable (I use the word in a 
comparative sense) to the European Russian than to 
Nikolaevsk-bred persons. 

Knowing this, I was not surprised to find in a small, 
narrow room, two men suffering from scurvy. They both 
looked dreadfully sallow, which was partly due to their 



70 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

confinement, and one of them had been ill since April (it 
was then August 23, O.S.). 

Leaving the kameri the prison master showed me the 
bathroom, whence several prisoners had once made their 
escape, of whom only one had been recaptured ; the 
exercise-ground, a small grass court with a rectangular 
and diagonal path, around and across which slip-shod 
figures were drearily pacing, who, at the sight of the master, 
immediately doffed their caps ; and finally the kitchen, 
where I met the only free inmate of the prison, to wit, 
the cat. 

It seemed to me that this forwarding prison reflected 
the normal state of things to-day. There are better, and 
there are worse. Here, at least, the sanitary arrangements, 
the state of which is sometimes inconceivable, are probably 
better than in their own homes. The food is certainly 
a deplorably weak point, and the absence of variety 
baneful ; and so is the herding together of a mixed lot of 
prisoners, the lowest type naturally tending to drag the 
others down ; but in judging this state of things, and in 
condemning the forced inactivity, one extenuating cir- 
cumstance should be borne in mind, viz. that their gaol is 
a temporary one, an Hape in which it is intended that they 
should stay only a short while. 

As the days elapsed I grew impatient to be off to 
Sakhalin, an impatience only accentuated by the un- 
pleasantness of my present quarters. It was not that 
the course of life in a ramshackle old wooden inn, with 
"switchback" floors, whence I could study to my heart's 
content the life and manners of Siberian pigs, ran too 
smoothly. On the contrary, there were times when one 
would have preferred a more even course. Two strolling 
minstrel girls appeared in the inn for several evenings to 
regale the habituh with music ; whence they came and 
whither they were going in this out-of-the-world place I 
wot not. I had retired to rest one night while this 






ON THE AMUR 71 

" music " was still progressing, when, between twelve and 
one, I was startled by a big struggle outside in the 
passage, then a great rattling of the door, and the noise 
of some one trying to force an entrance. I seized my 
revolver and waited, but, fortunately, my door was pad- 
locked, and the would-be intruders, whoever they were, 
soon desisted, and I heard the sound of their footsteps 
as they hurried down the passage. The disturbance in 
the neighbouring room, however, did not cease, but con- 
tinued until it culminated between two and three, when a 
rush was made for the yard ; but fortunately the shutters 
gave protection against attacks from that quarter. 

The next morning I learnt from a Dane, Mr. N., 
an engineer from Vladivostok, who had been present 
as a spectator of the previous night's fracas, that three 
or four of the officers of a small German steamer had 
come ashore, and had been drinking with the Russians 
and listening to the harpist. A quarrel shortly ensued as 
to who should sit next the girls, which soon developed into 
an international dispute ! One German tore part of the 
beard of a Russian out, another a portion of his coat, and 
these were flourished around, while yet another drew his 
revolver. The struggle soon involved them all, and con- 
tinued down my passage and eventually into the yard ; 
and some of them seemed to have made up their minds, 
or the soldiers who arrived on the scene had, that the 
fugitive, whoever he was, had taken refuge in my room. 

Meanwhile, no news had reached the bank of any vessel 
bound for Sakhalin, but one day, observing a strange 
steamer standing up the river, I made inquiries. The 
agent, whom I sought out, said that it was a tramp steamer, 
that it was certainly in want of coal and might put in at 
Sakhalin for it on its return to the south, and, as a favour, 
he would take me, but I must say nothing about it. The 
vessel could not sail for a few days, because the weather 
was not favourable for unlading. As it was, I do not know 



72 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

whether he wanted to put me off or not, but the steamer 
started very shortly and rather suddenly, and it was only 
through my importunity that late one afternoon I learnt 
of its intended departure in a few hours. I fled pre- 
cipitately, managed to get money from the bank in rather 
under two hours (!), and had packed ready to start at 
10. 10 p.m. on a dark stormy night in the pouring rain. 

A Russian acquaintance kindly accompanied me to 
the wharf, insisting by the way that my revolver should 
be transferred from an inside to an outer breast-pocket, 
in order, as he said, to enable me to draw it at a 
moment's notice. " My dear fellow," he continued, " you'll 
have a Chinaman in a sampan, and he may do anything to 
a stranger who he knows won't be missed. One's sufficient, 
don't take two. The moment you see him move, fire over 
his head, and if he attempts it again, shoot him. No 
inquiries will be made, one Chinaman more or less doesn't 
matter." The prospect was not pleasant, but it was an 
incident in travel that one gets accustomed to by degrees. 

I must confess, however, that I didn't approve of the 
Russian's ethics. As it was, I had no occasion to solve 
the question from a British point of view, and to defend 
myself without mortally wounding the attacking China- 
man; for we found no sampan owners there. It was late, 
the night was stormy. Our izvostchik called in vain to 
invisible Chinamen on dimly silhouetted sampans. 

" Perhaps he is asleep, or peradventure he is on a 
journey;" and my Russian companion, having adjured 
the izvostchik not to stand there speaking politely, but to 
go down into the boat and kick the Chinaman, discovered 
that he was on a journey. After about twenty minutes 
of this, things looked certainly dark. It was towards 

I I o'clock ; no sampan, my steamer lay somewhere out 
there in the dark watery waste a mile or more away. I 
had been told to board it that night, as it was to start 
early in the morning. What was to be done ? At last an 



ON THE AMUR 73 

idea occurred to us ; a small steam-tug, which had arrived 
from up the river that day, was lying by the quay. All 
was dark, but we boarded her, and stumbling over the 
sleeping form of the " bosun," effectually roused him up ; 
and after wearing down the captain's refusal, got him to 
agree to allow three of his now sleeping crew to row me 
out to the German tramp steamer. My baggage was 
pitched into the boat, and bidding my friend good-bye, 
I set off, feeling comparatively safe with my Russian 
crew, who were not drunk, or at least not superlatively so. 
It was a puzzle in the darkness to single out from the 
lights of many lighters, fishing-boats and steamers those 
of the tramp steamer I was bound for, but a guess proved 
happily correct ; and after a mile and a half s rowing 
we were close under the hull of a vessel from which, in 
answer to my shout, " Sind Sie das Tsintau f " came the 
welcome, " Ja ! Das Tsintau" Scaling the side by a rope- 
ladder, I at last boarded a steamer bound for Sakhalin. 



CHAPTER V 
NIKOLAEVSK TO ALEXANDROVSK 

A treacherous passage — A lonely coast — Sakhalin at last — I am put 
under guard — Am I a spy ? — Strange story of an ex-convict mer- 
chant — A drunken host to the rescue — The terrible deed of a 
student — Alexandrovsk — An interview with the Governor — A ride 
to Arkovo and a warning — Armed outlaws — The mail held up — 
Preparations for a 750-mile journey. 

INCOMPREHENSIBLE as it may seem, it was a 
translation to a land of luxury from Russian fare 
in a Siberian inn to tinned foods on a German tramp 
steamer. 

At the evening meal we actually indulged in the luxury 
and novelty of fresh mutton, for the solitary sheep which 
had been visible on deck in the morning was the only one 
I have ever seen in these parts. The Russian dislikes 
mutton, and to keep sheep on Sakhalin would be to feed 
the bears. Perhaps a menu in the English language, on a 
German steamer in the far East might be considered a 
further luxury ; but it was only another witness to the fact 
that English (or rather pidgin-English) is the language of 
commerce and travel in the Orient, and one soon gets 
accustomed to hearing the German or Russian captain 
shouting orders from the bridge in pidgin-English to his 
Chinese crew. 

Our course was to descend the river to its mouth, a 
distance of twenty-seven miles, then, turning south, to 
thread the Straits of Tartary for about 120 knots, putting 
into De Castries Bay on the mainland, and thence to 

74 



NIKOLAEVSK TO ALEXANDROVSK 75 

cross to the island of Sakhalin, which is a sixty knots' 
journey. 

At early morning we began to thread our way through 
the narrow winding channels of the Amur to the liman^ 
or delta-like embouchure of the river, where it broadens 
out from the one and a half to three miles at Nikolaevsk 
to eight at the heads. Very awkward and difficult is 
this passage of the Amur and the northern half of the 
Straits of Tartary ; and in one place the narrow channel, 
which gives passage through the treacherous shoals and 
sandbanks, becomes so shallow that at neap tides only 
thirteen feet of water is to be found, and hence only 
vessels of moderate draught can ascend, even with more 
favourable tides. Similar devious passages, through shoals 
slightly less shallow, extend to the north and to the 
south of the mouth of the river, even as far as the 52nd 
parallel. 

Our vessel had therefore to proceed slowly, with anchor 
ready to drop at a moment's notice, and a look-out was 
kept for a couple of large lighters, which were said to have 
been in danger of going aground on a sandbank, as the 
Tsintan was on its way up. The officers made merry 
over the incident, but it was not always a laughing matter 
for the poor helmsman on the lighter. Stranded on a 
sandbank in the dreary delta, with little hope of rescue — 
for there was no altering a ship's course in this terrible 
maze of sand — he stood considerable chances of being 
starved or drowned. Indeed, there were many stories of 
loss of life hereabouts, and we made out quantities of 
wreckage at the mouth. The chief pilot of De Castries, 
who was on board, had many a story to tell of adventures 
during the seventeen years he had been stationed on this 
coast. On one occasion the vessel he was piloting was 
wrecked in the Straits, but with four others he had 
managed to escape, though without provisions. For four 
days, he said, they rowed 138 miles (versts ?) along this 



76 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

lonely, inhospitable coast, until exhausted, they reached 
De Castries Bay. 

Darkness descended before we had cleared the narrow 
channel, and forced us to anchor for the night, and another 
delay occurred the next morning, when a small tug, at the 
mercy of wind and weather, begged some coal of us. 

We had kept within sight of the coast of the mainland 
all along. A bold coast it is, with hills of about iooo feet, 
rising at De Castries to 1540, and covered with dense 
forests. A few native inhabitants, Gilyaks, are found just 
to the south of the river mouth at Pronge and Mi, but 
otherwise it is uninhabited save by bears, foxes, etc. 

At De Castries, a beautiful natural harbour opens out 
to the view with a couple of islets, Observatory Island and 
Basalt Island, reposing in the smooth water. This haven 
was discovered and named by La Perouse in 1787. There 
is a small Russian post here, consisting of the dwellings 
of a telegraph chief, his assistants, and a few soldiers, for 
the cable to Sakhalin crosses from this point.* I was to 
set foot here again, but for the present we did not enter 
the bay, but merely landed the pilot at the foot of the 
southern headland, some miles from the post, on which 
stands a fine, strikingly built lighthouse. It is a lonely 
post, and only occupied by the pilots during the summer, 
for navigation ceases with the freezing of the Straits. 

The dim outline of the Sakhalin mountain range had 
been faintly discernible soon after we left the Amur, and 
at the narrow neck of the Straits of Tartary, where they 
are but five miles wide, the low sandy shore running out 
from the foot of the mountains was plainly visible. 

Our course was now steered east-south-east for the 

* This cable, which was broken in June, 1901, has now been 
abandoned, and a fresh one laid between Capes Lazarev and Pogobi. 
The post is to be maintained at De Castries, because it has communi- 
cation by telegraph with Vladivostok, and is the only safe haven for 
ships passing through the Straits of Tartary. 



NIKOLAEVSK TO ALEXANDROVSK 77 

"isle of the banished," where we arrived, and anchored 
within two miles of Alexandrovsk, at about 6 o'clock in 
the evening. 

Unfortunately for its development, the island of Sak- 
halin has no safe anchorage. On the west coast, where 
the coalfields occur, the sea has a pebbly bottom, and the 
emerging funnel of a sunken steamer near the beach at 
Alexandrovsk warns the navigator of the danger of stand- 
ing in with a shoreward breeze. Indeed, I was fortunate, 
for often since, I have seen a vessel approach within a 
couple of miles of the shore, and then reluctantly turn 
round and flee over to De Castries for refuge from a west 
wind. However, I was not yet ashore, and the captain's 
signals for a launch were apparently disregarded. Was 
there too much sea on for the tiny tugs, which put out to 
tow the lighters, laden with convicts or provisions, from the 
incoming vessels ? Yes, the captain thought so, and gave 
me no hope of being able to land. However, he promised 
to wait half an hour. As a doubtful encouragement he 
related how recently a French professor (M. Chaillet), 
making a tour in the East, had arrived off Vladivostok 
with the intention of returning to Europe across Siberia, 
and had been refused permission to land. His crime 
appeared to have been an acquaintanceship made with 
some Russian students in a German university, and 
a written promise to visit them en route to Paris vid 
Siberia ! 

My good fortune had not, however, deserted me, and 
before the half-hour had elapsed and the captain's patience 
had been exhausted, a launch put out to us, and, rather to 
my surprise, I was allowed to board it without question. 

I had not, however, mounted the steps of the pristan, 
before a loud official voice inquired where I was going, 
and what was my business. My very slender acquaint- 
ance with the Russian language stood me in good stead. 
I understood better than I could speak. Partly in Russian, 



78 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

and partly in German, I made them understand that I had 
a letter for Mr. Y., who was an ex-convict, a merchant, 
and acted as agent for the Russo-Chinese Bank. 

His was a strange story, which I will tell later. It was 
evident that I was viewed with suspicion. In fact, recent 
events all tended to make them think that I was a military 
spy. Mr. Y. was at the coal-mine, they said, and I must 
remain in that room (on the jetty) for twenty-four hours 
at least, and, on his return, they would know what to do 
with me. 

I had been in much worse places than this, and a 
traveller ought to accustom himself to sleeping anywhere. 
The main point was gained. I was on the island, and the 
Tsintati was about to depart to coal elsewhere, so the 
officials might lock me up if they pleased. However, I 
wanted my books, and going to the door, I found my exit 
barred by a soldier. Having demanded my baggage, 
which was brought in, I settled down by the light of the 
lamp to study my Russian grammar. 

At last I had landed on the island of punishment, and 
for the nonce I was a prisoner myself. As I gazed out of 
the window seawards, the sun was setting behind a cloud- 
bank of fiery red as of live coal. To me it pictured the 
passionate longing of the exiles, whose eyes were straining 
ever westward to the land of the sunset, to the homeland, 
the abode of friends and loved ones so long ago left behind ; 
but whose hopes, like the sun, sank into the dark waters 
of despair. 

Meanwhile, I was called to the realization of my position 
by the sound of telephoning which was going on between 
the officers on the jetty and the Governor. I could hear 
enough to make out that they were talking about me. I 
was also being watched from outside. 

My main object in coming to the island at all was to 
visit the Ainus, whom I believed I should find more 
primitive here than on the island of Yezo ; also, incidentally, 



NIKOLAEVSK TO ALEXANDROVSK 79 

I hoped to observe the treatment of convicts on what was 
well-known in Russia to be the worst penal settlement, the 
very name of which is not to be mentioned in St. Petersburg. 
If the authorities were determined to watch me closely, 
I, too, would be circumspect. I had, therefore, no need to 
advertise my secondary object, and to dwell only on my 
purpose to visit the natives. 

It was neither surprising nor unreasonable that I should 
be arrested and detained while inquiries were made. Twice 
during my stay rumours were afloat, telegrams had actually 
been received, I was told, that Japan had declared war 
with Russia, and my position was rendered less comfort- 
able since it was taken for granted that England was the 
ally of Japan. Only recently, guns and ammunition had 
been sent over from the mainland, followed by a Russian 
major-general, who had held a field-day. There was 
another reason which in fairness should be credited to 
them, and that was the protection of my person. Such 
was the state of things on the island, the number of out- 
laws and criminals at large, that while the officials might 
be held responsible for my life, they could not assure my 
safety. Before I reached the island I had been told that I 
should certainly be shot, that a pair of boots or twenty 
kopyeks ($d.) was sufficient bait for a convict to murder 
one, and that on landing after 6 o'clock in the evening, 
an escort was necessary. I knew from more authoritative 
reports that there were dangers to be prepared for, but 
these statements I regarded as considerably exaggerated. 
My " durance vile " lasted but a few hours. Scarcely an 
hour had passed, when the door opened and in walked a 
short, gentlemanly looking man in semi-undress military 
uniform, who, with a politeness of manner noticeably absent 
from my previous interrogators, addressed me in English. 
He apologized for asking me personal questions, but he 
had been bidden to. I explained that I had an introduction 
to Mr. Y., and had come to visit the Ainus. Then my 



80 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

good fortune pursued me. My interrogator, Mr. X., turned 
out to be himself a convict, the son of a very high 
official in St. Petersburg, and the husband of the Countess 

of . A highly educated man, speaking English, 

French and German, besides his native tongue, he was 
surprisingly au courant with English literature. I seized 
the opportunity of free speech, made all the inquiries I 
could about the Ainus, produced my maps, and discussed 
the geography of the island. That my earnestness im- 
pressed the under-officials was evident, and they were 
drawn in to contribute their quota of knowledge. By this 
time arrived the Chief of the district and Mr. Y. I handed 
my letter to the latter, and it was strange to see in this 
tall, fine, military-looking man, well-educated and refined, 
who addressed me in excellent French — a murderer and 
convict of twenty years' standing. 

His story is well-known throughout Siberia and 
European Russia. The details differ slightly with the 
narrator, but the main facts are, I believe, as follows : — He 
was left an orphan, heir to large estates which the traveller 
by rail from Berlin to St. Petersburg, vid Eydtkunen, 
passes. One day he had an interview with his trustee, an 
old uncle, in which the latter refused to pay a debt of 
honour, or, as some accounts say, refused his consent to 
his marriage, and in a fit of anger the younger struck the 
elder, and to his great misfortune the blow ended fatally. 
Other accounts make him guilty of murder rather than 
manslaughter, and of strangling an old servant who 
attempted to defend her master. Mr. Y. was sentenced 
to twenty years' hard labour on Sakhalin, where he worked 
in the mines with gangs of the most debased criminals, 
and in those early days must have witnessed awful cruelties 
on the part of the officials, for those were bad times indeed. 
How he had gone through it, and come out unscathed in 
manner and carriage, is almost inconceivable. His good 
behaviour had gained him rapid promotion through the 



NIKOLAEVSK TO ALEXANDROVSK 81 

various stages, and his term had already expired some 
years ago, but he had elected to remain in a part of the 
world where he had earned the respect of his neighbours, 
rather than become an outcast in more civilized society. 
He is a store-owner and a concession-holder, and his position 
is peculiar in this, that, while he is regarded by the con- 
victs as one of themselves, he nevertheless enjoys the con- 
sideration of the highest officials. Yet this position could 
not be maintained without considerable circumspection in 
his attitude to the latter, and perhaps this was why he 
only offered generally to render me any assistance in his 
power, although I was without the prospect of any shelter. 
That he faithfully kept his promise in this, I gratefully 
acknowledge. However, the question was still to be 
settled, what was to be done with me. It was, indeed, a 
puzzle. To me it mattered not, so that they dilly-dallied 
a while longer, for then the vessel would have gone and 
they could not send me away. 

Suddenly there arrived, post-haste, my and their deliverer 
from the quandary, in a mud-covered, travel-stained, 
drunken individual. He had posted from the interior in 
haste to transact business with the captain of the unexpected 
vessel, for he was the agent of the biggest German firm in 
the East. With good-natured hospitality he offered to give 
me a bed on the couch in his office. The officials discussed 
the matter and finally made no demur, since I was equally 
under surveillance there. My new acquaintance, having 
further imbibed on sea and on shore, was ready to start at 
10.30 p.m. After four hours my detention had come to 
an end, and we were whirled away to Alexandrovsk. The 
distance traversed was about a mile and a half, and lay 
first through a straggling pine wood and then through the 
town. My companion was of doubtful use as an escort, 
for he had now so much champagne and vodka " on board " 
as to be stretched full length in the proletka* shouting. I 

* A small victoria. 

G 



82 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

therefore kept my hand on my revolver and peered into 
the darkness. Here and there I made out a solitary 
figure standing stationary and rigid, and I guessed that 
they were watchmen or sentries. 

My host was not yet content with the quantity of 
liquor he had consumed, and notwithstanding all my 
attempts at dissuasion, an adjournment was made to what 
was called " the club," where we found several officials just 
beginning their evening at midnight. They had only just 
ordered supper, which was to be followed by drinking 
and cards until 3 or 4 a.m. One, a high officer of the 
Kantselyariya (Chancellerie), in gorgeous uniform of green 
and gold, sat with his head resting on the table, snoring 
loudly. It was in vain that the others attempted to arouse 
him to introduce me, for he remained in that posture until 
after we left. The night was spent in the log-house of my 
new and hospitable, if somewhat muddled, acquaintance, 
and we were well waited upon by ex-convicts, one of 
whom was a Kirghiz. 

The next day opened gloriously. It was September 8, 
the fields were green and the sea was " Drilling " in the 
sun. I could hardly believe myself to be on Sakhalin. 
An early caller appeared — it was the interpreter, Mr. X. 
I had requested him to make application to the chief of 
the Alexandrovsk district, Mr. Semevsky, to be allowed to 
become my interpreter. All through my stay I had reason 
to be grateful to this official, who as nachnalnik of the 
Alexdndrovskiy Okrug ranked next to the Governor on the 
island. He spoke French well ; and I sometimes wondered 
if the fact of his sister having married an Englishman 
influenced him favourably towards me. 

It may seem surprising that a convict, such as Mr. X., 
should be allowed to do so light a duty, and further that 
he should be told off for my use ; but several things had 
conspired to give him the comparative liberty he was 
then enjoying. He was not strong, and had been in the 



NIKOLAEVSK TO ALEXANDROVSK S3 

earlier days transferred from his cavalry regiment to the 
War Office on account of ill-health. On arrival on Sakhalin, 
he was placed in the prison with criminals, and an attempt 
was made to enforce his hard labour sentence, but a com- 
mission, composed in part of doctors, declared him unfit. 
He was, therefore, put on half duty, and for some time 
became doctor in a native village, to and from which he 
had to walk altogether twenty miles, and later on he was 
schoolmaster in Due, where he received ten rubles (a guinea) 
a month, during the school terms, on which to feed, clothe 
and house himself. His sentence would expire in three 
months, and these were now the holidays, and partly for 
one and partly for another reason my application had been 
granted. 

My passport had been produced and given up ; but no 
one of the officials could read English, which appears to 
have stood me in good stead, for I was told they were 
much impressed by the lithographed signature at the 
bottom, naively remarking that here was a person of im- 
portance who had a letter from the Marquis of Salisbury ! 

However, before three or four days had passed, and I 
was about to set out for the interior, where I should be 
out of sight and mind, my companion was warned that if 
I turned out to be a spy his fate would not be enviable. 

Slipping my revolver, as bidden, into my pocket, we 
made our way past the gaily painted wooden church to the 
house of a student-convict, of whom I hoped to procure some 
photographs to add to those I proposed to take myself. 
I could scarcely believe the story of this man when I met 
him. He had a tall figure, delicate features, and a mass 
of hair ; in fact, was altogether the artist in appearance 
and manner. How could he have committed the horrible 
deed attributed to him ? The son of a general, and at the 
time a university student, he had joined a society of youths 
of "reforming tendencies." An outsider obtained somehow 
or other information which endangered the whole society. 



84 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

It was determined to compass his death, and lots were 
drawn, and it fell to this one to do the deed. The victim 
was thereupon killed, and, horrible to relate, his body cut 
up and distributed among the members. The murderer 
was sentenced to twenty years on Sakhalin, of which 
seven were yet unexpired. He had spent the earlier 
portion of his sentence in the mines, and now, largely 
owing to the dearth of educated men, for the officials 
are only in exceptional cases so, he was installed as 
meteorological observer. To earn a living he had borrowed 
money for the purchase of a camera, and executed the 
orders mainly of the officials. Like Mr. X., he had pre- 
served all his society deportment, though he was nervous, 
apprehensive and very cowed in his manner, a noticeable 
result of contact with the prison officials. 

The town of Alexandrovsk, or rather Post Alexan- 
drovskiy, as it is called, for it has no municipal authority, 
and comprises a population of only 6000, lies mainly in a 
hollow at the foot of the mountains, worn by the two 
streams, the Great and the Little Alexandrovka rivers, 
which here break the line of sea-cliff for about half a mile. 
Marshy land stretches between the town and the sea. 
Two principal streets cross at right angles in the centre 
of the town, one containing the church, the chief officials' 
houses and the post-office and leading to the bazar or 
market, and the other, beginning on the hill slopes, con- 
tinues past the prison down to the jetty. 

Though the former street is wide and planted in part 
with young trees, the log buildings give it a dingy and 
sombre look. These two streets boast plank " street 
walks," which the foot passenger does well to avoid at 
night, owing to the occasional absence of a plank. Out- 
side of these two streets the rest are tracks, wide and 
grassy, as in all Russian villages, with ditches on either side. 
The laying out of the place resembles that of a poor far- 
west American township. Each hut, with its small windows, 




THE GOVERNOR OF SAKHALIN. [To face page 85. 



NIKOLAEVSK TO ALEXANDROVSK 85 

looking as if it feared either robbers or the cold hand of 
Jack Frost, had a tiny yard fenced in with a shed forming 
two sides of the square. In late autumn this little court 
would be scantily roofed with pine-branches to catch the 
snow and form a warm covering. 

The 6000 inhabitants of Alexandrovsk consist of con- 
victs and ex-convicts, their wives and children, and officials 
and their families. Besides these there are probably not 
a dozen free-born individuals, whose business here is that 
of merchants' agents, etc. 

I will not stop here to tell of the life of the place, for I 
was to experience much more of it on my return from an 
expedition to the north-east coast ; suffice it to say, that 
the Russian population of the island consists of convicts 
and officials. Out of a total of the former actually engaged 
in hard labour — 7080 (January 1, 1898) — the murderers 
numbered 2836, of whom 634 were women. The number 
of convicts and ex-convicts at the same date was 22,167, 
so that a moderate estimate would give 8000 of these as 
murderers. 

Lying off the main street, in which stands the church, 
is the Governor's house, and I now proposed to beard him. 
My companion was, naturally, very nervous at the thought 
of the coming interview, and though by this time I was 
becoming quite Russian in a stoical indifference as to 
what happened next, and in the frequent use of the word 
nichavo (rtimporte), I realized that my journey into the 
interior depended on this interview. If the Governor were 
drunk or in one of his fits of violent temper, I was assured 
by all, even by officials, that I should fail, and perhaps 
bring down his unreasoning wrath upon my head. Mr. 
Semevsky had allowed me my interpreter ; I had now to 
gain permission to travel in the island, which is entirely 
under martial law, the military Governor being responsible 
only to the Governor-general at Khabarovsk. However, 
again fortune favoured me, and the Governor proved most 



86 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

courteous, and with true Russian politeness regretted that 
my projected stay was so short for the object I had in view. 

I congratulated myself on finding him in such an ex- 
cellent mood. On my return he was by no means so 
compliant, and the higher officials let me know that he 
was no exception to the generality in Sakhalin, whose 
indulgence in fits of drunkenness and uncontrollable bursts 
of temper were taken as a matter of course. It would be 
unfair not to mention that during the last year there has 
been an improvement on the part of the Governor. I have 
received reports to this effect, though to what to attribute 
the change I do not know. It is, however, true that one 
cannot expect any great improvement in the administra- 
tion from his initiative ; for he is a man of weak will, and 
easily swayed. His term has now nearly expired, and I 
trust he will be followed by no worse a choice, but by 
one strong enough to carry out reforms ; for with a firm 
but beneficent governor, what might not be done? We 
have only to turn to the work of the nachalnik of the 
Alexandrovsk Central prison, near Irkutsk, to see. 

It must be remembered that the term of official life in 
Sakhalin is almost as much a banishment for them as for 
those under their charge ; and, excepting to those appointed 
in the cause of science and agriculture, it is considered as 
a reflexion. The result of my interview was to leave me 
free to travel on the island, and I believe the authorities 
were thankful to have me out of their way in the interior 
among the natives, where I could of course make no 
observations on their administration of the penal system. 
Meanwhile, my passport was retained as a check against 
any attempt on my part surreptitiously to aid my inter- 
preter in escaping ; though, when some 250 miles on my 
journey, I met two high officials returning from an ex- 
pedition, I was in the position of a brodyaga, or passport- 
less vagabond, subject to arrest, and had to make my 
explanations. 



1 



NIKOLAEVSK TO ALEXANDROVSK 87 

On the evening of my arrival on the island, in talking 
about the Ainus, the officials had declared to me that it 
was impossible to get to them overland from Alexandrovsk. 
The dangers and difficulties at this time of the year were 
practically insurmountable. This I found afterwards to 
be true, and as my time was limited, by the fear of being 
cut off from the mainland by the cessation of navigation, 
I was forced to giv& up any attempt which, whether success- 
ful or not, would involve the expenditure of too much 
time. I was the more easily reconciled to this, because 
the opportunity was offered of visiting another tribe, the 
Gilyaks. This people, I was told, I might reach in their 
own domain by a land journey of about fifty miles, and 
visit en route in the course of a river and sea trip of about 
600 miles in native canoes. With threats from the chief 
of the Timovsk district, in which their territory lay, and by 
openly carrying arms, the officials said, I might safely 
mix with them. I must be prepared to meet bears, but a 
greater danger, which they made much of and seemed to 
think prohibitive, was the escape of a batch of convicts 
armed. News of this escape was brought by my drunken 
acquaintance of the first night, who added that this was 
serious news, for such was the harshness of their treatment, 
that for a few kopyeks they would kill you, and that in broad 
daylight in Alexandrovsk. Regarding these statements 
as probably exaggerated, and soon becoming acclima- 
tized, as any one similarly situated would, to an atmo- 
sphere of ready defence, I and my interpreter began to 
make preparations for an expedition to the Gilyaks on the 
river Tim, and the north-east coast of the island. 

Meanwhile, an opportunity presented itself of visiting 
a village of this tribe, of the west coast division of the 
people, who were somewhat Russianized, at Arkovo, ten 
miles north of Alexandrovsk, along the coast. 

A couple of raw Siberian ponies were procured — they 
had never felt the weight of a saddle before — and we made 



88 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

for the coast, following the Great Alexandrovka river until 
it lost itself in meanderings in the sands, and then steer- 
ing north for the remaining nine miles ; Mr. X. warning 
me to give a wide berth to seals, which had a fondness 
for jumping up and biting the horses' feet. It was indeed 
a wild coast, and the cold, grey-green sea, which stretched 
away to the frozen north, to the Okhotsk Sea, ice-bound 
for two-thirds of the year, frowned drear and inhos- 
pitable. On our right were argillaceous cliffs slipping 
away, and making descent easy for the brodyagi from 
the Alexandrovsk prison, who haunted the forests above, 
descending at night, and if opportunity favoured, by day, 
to waylay travellers. Keeping together, and maintaining 
a sharp look-out, nothing happened to us, save that about 
halfway, our ponies suddenly bolted. At the time we 
took little notice of it, but that same week a youth was 
murdered here, who lived in the house we did — in fact, was 
the brother of our landlady — and at this spot his body, 
covered over with leaves, was found several weeks after. A 
rude shelter told of the habitation of the murderer, or one 
of them who was most likely in hiding here when we 
passed, and whose presence had scared our steeds. 

Arrived at the Gilyak village of Arkovo, to my dis- 
appointment the natives had departed for the salmon- 
fishing, ascending a river higher up the coast to take 
advantage of the spawning season. We therefore pushed 
on inland, past the strange native huts built on piles, to the 
Russian settlement called Arkovo the First. 

A stranger from Europe, suddenly dropped down here 
would certainly ask, " Is this Sakhalin, the dreary isle 
of punishment, the Hades of Russia ? " Outwardly, this 
village wore a look of contentment, with its cosy log 
cottages and gardens, in which flourished potatoes and 
cabbages. Sunflowers I saw also, and was told that wild 
roses (rosa rugosa) perfumed the air in early summer ; 
while away in the distance, forest-clad heights and grand 



NIKOLAEVSK TO ALEXANDROVSK 89 

purple mountains reminded me of some of the finer scenery 
of Japan. 

My interpreter had been schoolmaster here for a while, 
and as we entered the village, through a gateway intended 
to keep out straying cattle, he was recognized all along 
by the villagers as the barin who was, like them, a convict, 
and yet not like them in speech and manner. 

Halfway down the "street" he pointed out his little 
log-hut, where, though one of themselves, he had been 
robbed of his clothes, and even his wedding-ring, of which 
we were to hear more afterwards. 

Stopping at a rich farmer's (for he owned three cows !), 
we entered the high-fenced yard, above which were strewn 
already long pine-poles and branches to catch the snow 
and form the winter roof. Our ponies being duly hitched 
up, we ensconced ourselves in the kitchen, which also did 
duty for parlour and bedroom. A great brick oven, on 
which the children slept, a wooden structure in the corner, 
with a bundle of rags on, politely termed a bed, a table, 
and two benches, comprised the furniture. But I must 
not omit to mention two mural decorations, the one an 
advertisement picture of the Tsar, so often met with, even 
in the most unexpected places, and the other a representa- 
tion of an equally distant object, machine-made boots. 
The children gathered round the stranger ; and telling 
them of some of the countries I had visited, pleasantly 
surprised me with their geographical knowledge. 

Our frugal supper over, we thought of returning by 
the forest road, as the tide was now high, and barred our 
passage ; but our host, who had spent fifteen years on the 
island as convict and " exile-settler," tried for some reason 
to dissuade us. We were aware that the forest road de- 
manded defence on two sides, while the route by the sands 
was only dangerous from the cliff-side ; but as we both 
carried revolvers, and my companion a heavy police one, 
and were mounted, we still thought we might risk it. Our 



90 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

host, however, becoming very earnest in his entreaties, 
Mr. X. remarked to me, "I believe there's something 
behind this. You know, there's a freemasonry among the 
convicts and ex-convicts, and I believe he knows more 
than he dare tell." And to add weight to his warnings, 
the farmer told us that the brodyagi were armed with 
rifles, for which our revolvers were, he added, no match. 
To my surprise, I learned from him that the post which 
travels up to Rikovsk from Alexandrovsk (forty- four 
miles) every Friday had recently been held up, and this 
notwithstanding that it carries an armed official, and two 
soldiers with fixed bayonets. Nevertheless, a few miles 
out of the chief place on the island, it was stopped by 
brodyagi. One of the soldiers behaved with great coolness 
and presence of mind. Dropping off the kibitka, he 
crept into a ditch, whence he kept up a fusillade, moving 
about to deceive his opponents, while the post hurried 
back to fetch up reinforcements. 

This determined us, and as by this time it was already 
dark, and later than we had expected, we rode off to the 
sea, hoping that the tide would not long delay us. Thread- 
ing a mile or so of wood, we reached the sea, and splashing 
through the retreating tide, finally made Alexandrovsk 
without hindrance. True, it was eerie work watching, in 
the dark, the dimly outlined cliffs for the possible forms 
of outlaws, but we met only one, and he was no match for 
the two of us. 

Not wishing to be a burden to my drunken, but good- 
natured host, I looked about me for some other shelter. 
There was no inn of any description in Alexandrovsk, not 
even for the poorest, but Mr. X. found an ex-overseer of 
the prison, Mr. M., an honest-faced, good-natured official, 
in good repute with the convicts, who offered me his spare 
room. A special effort had been made to provide me with 
a bedstead. A wooden frame four-square had been pro- 
cured — perhaps made by a prisoner — and the vacuum was 



















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To face f age 90. 



NIKOLAEVSK TO ALEXANDROVSK 91 

bridged over by some box-lids. The choice was to lie on 
the box-lids or the floor, and I elected to do the former. 
But let not the reader think this reflects on my host and 
hostess, who were kindly, simple people doing their utmost 
to make the stranger comfortable, and the procuring of a 
bedstead at all was evidence of that. The great difficulty 
had been to find a place in which my goods and chattels 
would be secure, and here I was assured they would be. 

The next two days were spent in preparations for the 
journey to the north-east coast of the island, and these 
took me into the prison offices and about the town in 
several directions, where much of the life of the place stood 
revealed. Here I met in so doing gangs of convicts, the 
worst among them chained, shuffling off to the mines, or 
dragging trailing loads of wood or provisions ; there I saw 
through the barred windows of the eastern wing of the 
prison front, convict women and girls at work, sewing. 
These represented those not chosen as wives by the 
" exile-settlers," but were really the ones selected by 
officials for their appearance, though nominally to do the 
sewing and cleaning of the prisons. For it is too true 
that the majority of the officials live in drunkenness and 
open adultery. 

A little way beyond this eastern end of the prison I 
came upon an old man, moving with difficulty, and about 
to sink down upon the grass. I could not help being struck 
by the difference between his intelligent face and those of 
the criminals one saw everywhere in the streets, and I 
asked my companion who he was. "Yes, you're right," 
he replied, " he is an intelligent man. He was a millionaire 
(in rubles), but his big ' fabrik/ heavily insured, was burnt 
down, and he was accused of incendiarism. Sentenced to 
fifteen years' hard labour on Sakhalin, he had no means of 
leaving the island at its expiration. He is now between 
sixty-five and seventy, and is broken down and ailing, 
after his degrading sentence. He must now earn his 



92 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

living or starve, but is paralyzed, and subsists on a scanty 
charity." 

Truly the place was redolent of sad stories of lives 
wrecked, and this island was the last place in which to 
expect any ray of hope to brighten their horizon and once 
more give hope of regeneration. 

Our preparations consisted of food, clothing, and arms. 
For barter with the natives we laid in twenty pounds of 
coarse leaf tobacco, bricks of tea (tea-dust and twigs 
pounded and compressed and probably mixed with ox- 
blood), gunpowder and shot, etc., pipes, needles, cotton, 
matches, coloured handkerchiefs, cloth, sweets, rice, sugar, 
etc., etc. 

Provisions presented considerable difficulties. A Rus- 
sian engineer, who had been prospecting petroleum lakes 
on the north-east coast, had been delayed in ascending the 
river on his return, and his stores having given out, he and 
his men had arrived in a terrible plight, having been 
starved for three days and terribly bitten by mosquitoes. 
It was therefore desirable to err on the side of excess, but 
the difficulties of transport prevented this, for besides the 
uncertainties of land carnage, native canoes could carry 
but light cargoes. Our tent canvas, shubi (great over- 
coats lined with sheepskin or fur), mackintoshes, bedding, 
etc., besides guns and ammunition, were no light weight. 
We could, therefore, only add to these, small quantities of 
tinned foods, baked pulled black bread, rice, etc., and rely 
upon the chances of shooting ducks or bear, and bartering 
with natives for reindeer's flesh to make up the deficiencies 
of our larder. 



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[To face p. 93. 



CHAPTER VI 
THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN 

History of the discovery of the island — Captain Vries in search of the 
" Gout en Silverycke eylant " — Believed to be a peninsula — The 
Jesuit Fathers' quaint reports — How the island got its name — La 
Pe"rouse's discoveries — Captain Nevelsky settles the question of 
its insularity — Native legends of a deluge — Was it a peninsula ? — 
A forest-clad land, the home of the great brown bear — 55 below 
zero — Mails by dog-sledge across the frozen sea — A mystery of 
the ice-bound straits — Geology — Strange races — Who were the 
aborigines ? — Dwellers in pits — The Russian occupation. 

BEFORE narrating my experiences on the journey 
to the north-east coast, I propose to give the 
reader some idea of the general conditions of the 
island, a brief rismne of its history, and a slight sketch of 
its inhabitants and physical features. Unless ancient 
Chinese annals, yet untranslated, contain some reference 
to Sakhalin, the earliest record in existence concerning it, 
is the report of an expedition made by a few Japanese 
in the year 16 13. On their return they drew a map of the 
southern portion, the only part they had seen, and called it 
Karafto,* by which we may conclude that they imagined 
it to be a portion of the mainland of China (Eastern 
Tartary), Kara being the old Japanese name for that 
country. 

* Kara in many languages of the East, Mongol, Urdu, and Manchu, 
etc., means black, and it is tempting to see in this name the same 
signification as Sahalien, a Manchu word also meaning black, but the 
probabilities are in favour of the interpretation adopted in the text. 

93 



94 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

Thirty years later, a Dutch captain, Martin Vries, sent 
by the famous Governor-general of the East Indies, 
Antonio van Diemen, to discover the " Gout en Silverycke 
eylant," i.e. a legendary island rich in gold and silver, 
sailing north-west from the coast of Yezo anchored in 
Aniva Bay, the southernmost bay of the island, being the 
first European to land on this terra incognita. Rounding 
Cape Aniva he reached the 49th parallel, and named a 
prominent headland on the east coast, Cape Patience, 
which name it bears to-day. 

Nothing had been known by the Russians, before this 
date, of the north-eastern extremities of Asia for Yermak, 
the pioneer of Russia in Siberia, had only crossed the 
border in 1581. Yet within less than seventy years the 
vast continent had been crossed, and Vasili Poyarkov, 
in 1645, having descended the Amur, reported confused 
rumours from the natives of an island lying at the mouth 
of the river. One other reference to it about this time was 
made in an old Russian record of the seventeenth century, 
which says that, " On a great island lying over against the 
mouth of the river dwell a people, the Gilyaks ; who keep 
in their villages 500 to 1000 dogs ; all possible animals 
they eat, and bring up bears to do peaceful work." 

It is therefore strange that after a lapse of 200 years, 
notwithstanding all reports to the contrary, the island 
should still be thought a peninsula as late as the middle 
of the nineteenth century. 

The first authentic information on the subject came 
from the Jesuit Fathers at the court of the great Chinese 
Emperor K'angshi. This indefatigable ruler, who prose- 
cuted so seriously his study of mathematics, astronomy, 
etc., with the reverend fathers, proposed that they should 
make a map of the district in which the nearer portion of 
the Great Wall lay. This region he knew well from his 
frequent hunting expeditions, and he was so well pleased 
with the work of his tutors that he deputed them to 



THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN 95 

go out in couples and map out the whole of his vast 
empire. 

It was in the year 1709 that the three PP. Regis, 
Jartoux and Fredelli set out to traverse Manchuria, or as 
it was then called, Eastern Tartary ; and, though they 
never reached Sakhalin, they managed to get as far as 
the village of Tondon (to-day called Dundun), which is on 
the right bank, about 400 miles from the mouth of the 
Amur, and had something to say of the island. 

I will let them tell their story in their own words. 

" We felt it very sharp at the beginning of September ; 
and the eighth of that Month, on which we were at Tondon, 
the first Village of the Ke tching ta se Tartars,* we were 
oblig'd to get us Habits lin'd with Lamb-skins, which we 
wore all the Winter. They also began to fear that the 
Saghalien oula (Amur), though so large and deep a River, 
would be froze over, and that the Ice would stop our Boats ; 
accordingly it was froze every Morning to a certain distance 
from its Banks, and the Inhabitants assured us that in a 
few Days the Navigation would become dangerous by 
reason of the Quarries of Ice which fell down the River : 
The Cold is also very much prolong'd by the great Forests 
in this Country, which are more numerous and thicker of 
Wood the nearer you advance to the Eastern Ocean : We 
were nine Days in passing through one of them, and obliged 
to have several Trees cut down, by the Mantcheou Soldiers, 
to make room for our Observations of the Sun's Meridian." f 

The good father runs on in his interesting way, telling 
of strange peoples with curious dress and food, but closely 
resembling the Gilyaks, the Golds, and the Orotchons, who 
still inhabit the banks of the lower Amur to-day. And, 
though they never reached Sakhalin, he has something to 
relate of it which he learnt from the Ke tcheng ta se, whose 
country, he says, " extends along the Saghalien oula, from 

* Fish-skin Tartars, from their dressing in fish-skins. 

t Du Halde's " History of China," translated by R. Brooks, 1736. 



96 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

Tondon to the Ocean. . . . They were the first that 
inform'd us, of what we did not know before, that opposite 
to the Mouth of Saghalien oula was a great Island inhabited 
by People like themselves ; the Emperor afterwards sent 
some Mantcheoux thither, who passed over in Barks of 
these Ke tcheng ta se, who live by the Sea-side, and trade 
with the Inhabitants of the Western Parts of the Island. 

" Had these Gentlemen been as careful in measuring 
the South Part as they were in traversing the East, and had 
returned by the North to the Place from whence they set 
out, we should have had a compleat Knowledge of this 
Island ; but they neither brought us the Measure of the 
South Coast, nor the names of the Villages there ; where- 
fore we could only describe that Part from the Reports 
of some of the Inhabitants. ... It is variously named 
by the Inhabitants of the Continent, according to the 
different Villages which they frequent ; but the Name 
by which it is generally distinguished is Saghalien anga 
hata,* the Island at the mouth of the Black River. . . 
The Mantcheoux who were sent thither learned only the 
Names of the Villages through which they passed, for the 
want of necessaries obliged them to return much sooner 
than they could have wish'd, they told us that these 
Islanders fed no Horses, nor any other Beasts of burthen, 
but that in several Parts they had seen a sort of tame Stag 
which drew their Sledges, and which, according to their 
descriptions, were like those used in Norway." 

So far as the description goes it tallies with the con- 
ditions to-day, saving only the occupation of portions of 
the west and south coast by the Russians. 

It was owing incidentally to the reverend fathers, and 
the great geographer d'Anville, that the island received its 

* This is Manchu, and the words mean — 

Saghalien, or Sahalien, black, 
(oula, or ula, understood, river.) 
anga, mouth, 
hata, rock. 



THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN 97 

present name, for it has had many, as the following list will 
show : — Tarakai, Repun (Ainu), Khuye (Chinese), Karafto, 
Kita-sima (Japanese), Tun (Manchu), and Tchoka (native, 
Orochon). The name by which it was known among the 
Manchus was Tun, or Toung, which means, " a hole dug 
in the ground, to which retreat certain wild men," possibly 
a reference to the pre- Ainu race, which is believed to have 
inhabited Sakhalin, or even to the present northern tribes, 
who used to live in mounds, and still do so in winter. This 
name, however, does not appear to be mentioned by the 
Jesuit explorers, perhaps because they regarded it as 
equally fabulous with the statements of the Chinese geo- 
graphers, who wrote of the "northern crab barbarians" 
as inhabiting a region evidently intended for Sakhalin ; 
and of their neighbours on Yezo as having "Bodies 
covered with Hair, Whiskers that hung down to their 
Breasts, and their Swords tied by the Point behind their 
Heads." Their information was, indeed, out of date, for 
we may perhaps see in these so-called fabulous tales, re- 
ference to the prehistoric pit-dwellers of Yezo (the Goro- 
pok-guru), and the warlike Ainus of the eleventh and 
twelfth centuries. 

The reverend fathers appear, on the other hand, to have 
been impressed by the mention of Saghalien oula anga 
hata, or the rocks at the mouth of the black river ; and on 
the copy of the map of the Chinese Empire, sent home to 
the King of France, only a very few of the Chinese, Man- 
chu, and Khalka names of places, mountains, and rivers, 
were transliterated into Latin characters, the island re- 
maining unnamed ; but at the mouth of the Amur 
appeared this legend, "Saghalien oula anga hata." The 
copyists employed by d'Anville in 1734 found this too 
long, and simply wrote Saghalien,* thinking it was meant 

* Sakhalin, is the official Russian name of the island, and, accord- 
ing to the Manchu scholar, Mr. M. F. A. Fraser, " gets very near to 
the Manchu pronunciation " of the characters, which he transliterates 

H 



98 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

to apply to the island, to which it has ever since stuck. 
It is a coincidence that such a curiously apt name — 
"black" — for the penal island to which Russia's worst 
criminals are despatched, should have thus accidentally 
been given to it. 

The illustration in the text is a reproduction of a map, 
d'Anville appended to a letter he published in 1737, ex- 
plaining why he had so constructed his map of this much- 
debated region, and particularly his reasons for making 
Yezo an island. 

It will be noticed that Sakhalin is about half its true 
size, and that Capes Aniva and Patience, of which d'Anville 
had heard, through a report of Captain Vries' expedition 
just to hand, are added by him to the mainland, instead 
of being placed on the southern half of the island, which 
should extend southwards for another 4 . 

In 1787, the famous explorer La Perouse, following the 
coast of Tartary, with d'Anville's map before him, deter- 
mined to steer eastwards to reconnoitre the Kurile islands. 
He was then in latitude 48 , and, to his surprise, soon 
encountered land, though the map marked nothing nearer 
than the southern end of Sakhalin at 49J . Neither to 
the south-east nor to the north-east could he find a channel, 
and he came to the conclusion that this was the island 
called Saghalien by the geographers, and that it stretched 
much further to the south than they had imagined. 

Proceeding in a northerly direction along the coast, he 
landed in three bays ; and has left us an interesting account 
of his meetings with the natives, who from his description 
are recognizable as Ainus. 

Beyond latitude 51° the Straits becoming shallower, 
he made over to the coast of Tartary, and found and named 
the De Castries Bay. In answer to his inquiries here, 
whether there was a passage between the isle and the 

Sa-kha-li-yen. " The stress," he adds, " is diffused as in Japanese 
or French." 



THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN 99 

mainland, the natives indicated that there were sandbanks, 
that marine flora grew thereupon, and that they had to 
drag their canoes over the shoals. He therefore turned 
south, and navigated the strait which divides Yezo from 
Sakhalin, to which he gave his name. 

Nine years later an English captain, W. Broughton, 
attempted to pass, but failed, although his brig drew only 
ten feet. Krusenstern met with no greater success during 
his three years' expedition in East Siberian waters, from 
1803 to 1806 ; but a Japanese surveyor, Mamia Rinzo, two 
years later, succeeded where all others had failed. 

He was despatched by the Japanese Government, 
whose suspicions had been aroused by the arrival of a 
Russian embassy at the Mikado's Court in 1805, and in 
1808 an expedition was fitted out to survey the coasts 
of Eastern Tartary. Mamia Rinzo navigated the Straits 
(hitherto called the Gulf) of Tartary, and returned with 
carefully drawn up plans and charts. These were pigeon- 
holed in the archives at Yeddo, and only discovered many 
years later by P. von Siebold. 

The insularity; of Sakhalin therefore still remained a 
secret. As late as 1846 Lieutenant Gevrilov, who was 
despatched on a Government expedition, and was wrecked, 
wrote, "Sakhalin is a peninsula." It was left to Captain 
Nevelsky to establish once and for all the insularity of 
Sakhalin. 

The great Count Muraviev, whose brilliant administra- 
tion I have already referred to, in conjunction with 
Captain Nevelsky at sea, had been searching for a suit- 
able naval base on the Eastern Siberian coast, with a view 
to strengthening the Russian position and hold on the 
Amur. They had parted in Europe in the year 1848, 
both bound for the East. No news of the latter had been 
received for months, and fears were entertained of the 
loss of his vessel, when on September 3, 1849, she appeared 
on the horizon off Ayan (Sea of Okhotsk). It is said that 

LofC. 



ioo IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

Muraviev, impatient to heat the news, set out to meet 
him in a row-boat, and was hailed through a speaking- 
trumpet by Nevelsky in the following words : — " God has 
assisted us . . . the main question is happily solved . . . 
Saghalien is an island, and sea-going ships can penetrate 
into the estuary of the Amur both from the north and 
the south. An ancient error is completely dissipated ; I 
now report to you that the truth has been discovered." * 

This discovery, however, did not become public pro* 
perty at once, for, in 1855, during the Anglo-French 
war with Russia, an English commander, with a small 
squadron, coming upon six Russian vessels in De Castries 
Bay, retired to the south to block their exit and await 
reinforcements, thinking that an isthmus to the north 
had rendered the Russian position a cul de sac. Mean- 
while, the Russian squadron slipped out of the bay, and, 
steering north, navigated the narrow strait between Capes 
Lazarev and Pogobi, and reached the mouth of the Amur. 

It is interesting to note, in regard to the reported 
connexion of the island and mainland in historical times, 
that the Gilyak natives have a legend telling of the 
destruction of the isthmus which is said to have united 
them. It is one of the deluge stories that are so curiously 
prevalent. 

The story tells how, " In the good old times no boat 
was needed to go to and from the Amur land (mainland 
at the mouth of Amur), for then dry land united it with 
Sakhalin, but once there came water from the sea — much, 
much water — then only were seen the tops of the mountains. 
During that flood many Gilyak hunters perished, but one 
found himself, by chance, on the top of a mountain, sharing 
it with a bear. The beast did him no harm, and even 
allowed him to sit upon its back while he swam to the 
tops of other mountains, where more refugees from the 
flood were congregated. When the waters receded and 
* Vladimir. " Russia on the Pacific." 



/ 

THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN 101 

life went on as usual, the Gilyaks wanted to return whence 
they had come, to sell the furs they had saved ; but on 
arrival at the familiar spot, lo ! " the isthmus was gone, 
swept away ty the flood, and in its place was the narrow 
strait, which remains to this day. At the time of this 
catastrophe," they added, " the river Amur overflowed, 
and large numbers of our brethren on its banks perished." 

I asked them where this mountain was, and they in- 
dicated a peak about forty miles south of Alexandrovsk, 
called Ktaiisi pal (pal = peak or mountain), and named 
by La Perouse, " Pic la Martiniere," after the botanist of 
his expedition.* When the natives see this peak, my 
Gilyak informant said, they always make an offering to 
the god of the mountain. 

I have wondered whether the following had anything 
to do with the Gilyak story, or was only a coincidence. I 
happened to be passing down the Straits of Tartary on a 
small Russian cargo steamer, and talking to the captain 
about the weather encountered there, when he said, " There 
are frequent fogs here, and you know how difficult naviga- 
tion is, but there is always one guide. In the thickest of 
fogs can always be seen the top, just the summit, of a 
mountain in Sakhalin." Is this the mountain, towering 
above the heavenly floods, the clouds and fog, on which 
the Gilyak and bear found themselves ? 

Another legend bearing on the point is told by their 
old men, who say that "their fathers or grandfathers 

* La Pe'rouse says, in his account of his voyage round the world, 
" Le 22 (juillet, 1787) au soir, je mouillai a une lieue de terre, par 
trente — sept brasses (fathoms) fond de vase. J'etais par le travers 
d'une petite riviere; on voyait a trois lieues au Nord Mixpictres — 
remarquable j sa base est sur le bord de la mer, et son somraet, de 
quelque cotd qu'on Papercoive, conserve la forme la plus reguliere ; il 
est couvert d'arbres et de verdure jusqu'a le cime : je lui ai donne 
le nom de pic la Martiniere, parce qu'il offre un beau champ aux 
recherches de la botanique, dont le savant de ce nom fait son 
occupation principale." 



102 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

remembered the time when on the island there were no 
Russians, and it was very hot. The Russians came, and 
brought with them the cold and snowstorms. Before this, 
grapes ripened on the island, and now only in the south, 
and even there they are very sour, and not really ripe. In 
the north there is only the plant, and it bears no fruit." 

Such is not an uncommon tale of primitive folk, who, 
like their more civilized neighbours, look back upon " the 
good old times," and unconsciously gild earlier days with 
" memory's sunset ray." But taking these two legends 
together, and translating the time to which they relate to 
a period not later than three or four centuries ago, there 
seems some probability, or at least possibility, of a basis 
of fact. The strange intermixture, observable in the fauna 
and flora, arctic, temperate, and sub-tropical, and even 
more noticeable in the Primorsk, the coast region of the 
mainland opposite, suggests a chapter in the history of 
these regions when their climate approximated to that of 
Central Japan to-day. 

The tiger, larger and with longer fur than his Bengal 
brother, is found where the elk wanders ; and though I do 
not credit the Gilyak's reports to Dr. Schrenck, of traces of 
it found on Sakhalin, it is met with every winter between 
Khabarovsk and Nikolaevsk, and crosses the Amur on the 
ice, when wild boars are scarce, and the horses of the 
Russians or the Soluns are to be had. I have seen the 
little striped ground-squirrel which is so common among 
the mosques of India, in the bushes of the interior of Sak- 
halin, and not far off the reindeer nibbling the lichen 
growing on the tundra, which in winter is a solitary frozen 
waste. 

It has been calculated that 15 per cent, of the species 
of birds observed on the island are from the polar regions, 
and 12 per cent, sub-tropical. The long-tailed rosefinch 
from the south (Uragus sanguinolentus) and the osprey 
(Pandion halicetus) of the arctic regions are both found on 



THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN 103 

Sakhalin. The flora exhibits as great a diversity. Bam- 
boos (Arundinaria kurilensis) and Swiss pines (Pinus 
cembra pumila), hydrangeas, the cork- {P hello dendr on amu- 
reuse) and spindle-trees (Euonymus macropterus) are here, 
with the Betula ermani^ and the gnarled larch (Larix 
dauricd) y and birch, and the berry-laden bushes of the 
Siberian tundra. 

Now, if we suppose that a neck of land once united 
Sakhalin with the mainland, the cold current from the 
Okhotsk Sea — which runs strong through the Straits of 
Tartary, forcing back a weaker branch of the Kuro Siwo 
or Gulf Stream of the East — must then have found its way 
blocked. The warm current flowing north from the Japan 
Sea would have pursued its course up the Gulf of Tartary 
without the active opposition of the colder one, and wash- 
ing first the shores of the mainland, or Primorsk, would, 
on reaching the isthmus, have swept round in a southerly 
trend, laving the west coast of Sakhalin. This might 
account for the partial survival of sub-tropical vegetation. 

The present configuration of the shoals and sandbanks 
immediately to the north of the " funnel " of the Straits 
of Tartary seemed to me, when travelling through them 
and studying the charts, also to support the theory of the 
existence at some time, not remote, of an isthmus joining 
Capes Lazarev and Pogobi. The great accumulation in 
the form of sandbanks, and one in particular in mid- 
channel, but three-quarters of a fathom deep and imme- 
diately to the north of the " narrows," could be much more 
easily accounted for by the previous existence of a neck 
of land, and the consequent check and deposition of alluvium 
in a quiet bend, than by the present conditions of a strong 
current from the north at four knots an hour. 

Nor is it difficult to conceive how the catastrophe, 
pictured by the Gilyaks, might have taken place. Peter 
Dobell, writing in the year 181 3, has described for us the 
circumstances which brought about the insulation of the 



104 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

town of Okhotsk. He pictures the then site as a long 
narrow island sandbank, and adds, " a few years ago the 
river became choaked (sic) at the mouth by a more than 
ordinary quantity of ice. The strength of the stream not 
being sufficient to force it out by the usual channel, it sank 
to the bottom, and at length completely obstructed the 
egress of the waters. Thus repelled, they swelled to an 
enormous height, covering all the country round, and forced 
themselves at length through the sandy beach, by what 
is called the new channel, insulating the town on the spot 
I have already described." 

The island of Sakhalin is 590 miles long, or the dis- 
tance from Land's End to Cape Wrath, and from 17 
to 100 miles broad, with an area of 29,336 miles, or a 
trifle less than that of Scotland ; while its population on 
January 1, 1898, was about 36,000, or scarcely one-eighth 
of the population of the city of Edinburgh. It is separated 
from the most northerly of the large islands of Japan, 
Yezo, by La Perouse Strait, which presents to the mariner 
a difficult and dangerous crossing, though only twenty- 
eight miles in width. 

It is a mountainous country, a long backbone or ridge 
running from north to south, and keeping near to the 
western coast ; and three spurs stretching to the east 
coast. The longest ends in Cape Patience, with Mount 
Tiara, 2000 feet in height, rising about midway ; and 
the other two in the extreme south, one at Cape 
Aniva, and the latter a few miles to the north-west of 
Korsakovsk. The ridge maintains an average altitude 
of about 2500 feet, culminating in Ichara pal or Pic 
Lamanon, 4860 feet in height, about fifty miles to the 
north of the narrowest part of the island. Two main 
rivers, each with a course of about 300 miles, have their 
watershed about the centre of the island ; one, the Poronai 
(Ainu, poro - great ; and nai = river), flowing south into 
the Bay of Patience, and the other the Tim (in the Gilyak 



THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN 105 

tongue, tim means cranberry, which is abundant on the 
banks), which I descended, finding outlet in the Bay of 
Ni, on the north-east coast. Short torrential streams there 
are in great numbers, especially on the west and south- 
east coasts. 

The land is for the greater part covered with primeval 
forest. So dense is this, that the natives depend for high- 
way upon the rivers, which they traverse in summer in 
canoes dug out of tree-trunks, and in winter in dog- or rein- 
deer-sledges over the frozen surfaces. 

The commonest trees in the forests in the northern 
half are larch {Larix dauricd) and birch (Betula alba), and in 
the south spruce (Piccea ajanensis), and fir {Abies sachalinensis). 
In addition to these are the less common aspen, willow, 
elm, maple, nut, Swiss pine, mountain ash, etc. 

The forests naturally change their personnel with their 
situation. On the mountain-side, and down in swampy 
places, where cold winds prevail, the flora is limited, and 
the sparse vegetation, the hoary moss-hung trees, and the 
almost snow-white lichen-sprinkled ground, the home of 
the reindeer, hint of approaching arctic conditions. 

In sheltered valleys, on the other hand, I have found 
lofty larch trees measuring, as nearly as I could tell by 
pacing a fallen giant, 145 feet, and in the south, as already 
mentioned, are found the spindle- and cork-trees, the 
bamboo, hydrangea, and the heracleum. 

The thick undergrowth was chiefly composed of wild 
rose, spiraea (betulcefolia ? ) and berried bushes, including 
the cloudberry {Rubus chamcemorus) , cranberry {Oxy coccus 
palustris), crowberry {Empetrum nigrum), and the red 
whortleberry or cowberry ( Vaccinium vitis idcea). 

On the whole it is the taiga, the Siberian "jungle " or 
belt of trackless forests of birch, larch, and spruce that 
prevails on Sakhalin ; and the tundra, with its meres and 
swamps, covered with dank grass, gnarled and stunted 
larch and birch, low clusters of berry-laden brushwood, 



io6 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

shrouded in a drear sunlit mist in summer, or a frozen waste 
in winter, is only met with in parts, more especially in the 
north on the west coast. 

If the human population of Sakhalin is small in number, 
the four-footed inhabitants are many. It was probably as 
a happy hunting-ground that the island appealed to the 
Gilyak pioneers from the Amur, whose descendants are 
settled to-day on the east and west coasts and the banks 
of the river Tim. 

The most striking of all the animals on Sakhalin is, 
without doubt, the big brown bear ( Ursus arctos\ which is 
found in great numbers. Wolves also haunt the forests, 
but chiefly in the south, and even there not in any great 
numbers to-day. Foxes are, however, prolific, and the skins 
of these, the reindeer, the sable, and the otter, go to make 
up the bulk of the fur trade to the mainland. 

Though situated in the temperate zone, Sakhalin, 
certainly in its northern half, has a climate similar to that 
of Lapland and southern Greenland. Alexandrovsk, the 
chief place on the island, lying about sixty miles north of 
the centre on the west coast, has exactly the same latitude, 
even to the second, as Brighton ; yet its mean annual 
temperature is just below freezing-point (31*64° Fahr.). 

The summer heat is considerable, and hence a great 
range is experienced. The figures for 1900, which were 
not then (1901) published, but kindly given me by the 
student-convict and meteorological observer, showed a 
maximum of 8i° Fahr. in July, and — 38° Fahr. in January, 
or a range of 1 19° Fahr. In the interior, at Rikovsk, this 
has been increased to 149° Fahr., the thermometer rising 
to 94° (1897) above and falling to 55° below zero Fahr. 
(1890). 

This falls considerably short of the low temperatures 
experienced in the extreme north of Siberia, notably at the 
reputed pole of cold, Verkhoyansk, on the river Yana, 
where it is said that — 8i° Fahr. have been registered. 



THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN 



107 



A more instructive comparison, however, may be made 
from monthly averages. In the following table are re- 
corded the averages of mean readings for the coldest and 
warmest months of the year, and the ranges between. 



Lat. N. 




Jan. 


July. 


Range. 


/ " 




F. 


F. 


F. 


So 49 5o 


Alexandrovsk (Sakhalin, W. coast) 


-3° 


62 


6$° 


50 43 {circa) 


Rikovsk ( ,, interior) 


-8 


63 


7i 


46 39 


Korsakovsk ( ,, S. coast) 


13 


64 


51 


67 20 


Verkhoyansk (Siberian mainland, 
E. Siberia) 


-56 


58 


114 


5i 1 


Chita (Siberian mainland, Trans- 
Baikalia) 


-15 


66 


81 


48 28 


Khabarovsk (Siberian mainland, 
Primorsk) 


-7 


70 


77 


43 6 


Vladivostok (Siberian mainland, 
Primorsk) 


5 


69 


64 


59 57 




15 


66 


5i 


5i 29 




37 


64 


27 



It will be seen that, whereas Sakhalin experiences nearly 
the same temperature during July as do other places in 
Siberia, and even St. Petersburg and London, during 
January the cold is less intense than in the interior, on the 
mainland, but much more so than in the two European 
towns. 

Korsakovsk in the south, though suffering as does the 
rest of the island from keen north winds, shows a striking 
contrast to other Sakhalin places in its winter records. 

Winter lasts long, and the figures for 1900 recorded 
208 days on which frost occurred, and on 141 of these no 
thaw took place. Late in September, or early in October, 
the snow begins to fall. At first it lies only on the tops of 
the mountains. Soon, however, it creeps down the sides, 
and the old men of Alexandrovsk told me that from 
October 13 (October 26, N.s,) it should come to stay. 
Thence onwards for nearly six months the land is covered 
with a white pall, on an average for 170 days, but in 
1895 it remained for no less than 203 days. Its depth 



108 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

varies from one to three feet (at Rikovsk 34J inches were 
recorded in 1896), being deeper in the tundra valleys of the 
rivers and shallower on the mountains, but almost anywhere 
one may come unexpectedly upon drifts of seven feet, from 
which it is not easy to extricate one's self. 

With the opening of winter comes the closing of the 
Straits of Tartary to navigation. From the middle of 
November until May no ships are seen, and communica- 
tion is absolutely cut off, save for the cable, excepting 
during two months in midwinter. Even this slender and 
uncertain means of communication was denied the inhabi- 
tants, for in June, 1901, the cable was broken, thus rendering 
their isolation complete during the following winter. 

Towards the end of December, or the beginning of 
January, the sea is sufficiently frozen for natives to under- 
take the arduous task of sledging to Nikolaevsk with the 
mails. At Alexandrovsk, and generally to the south of the 
" funnel " of the Straits, only the coastal fringe of the sea is 
frozen, but to the north of that all is covered save for 
occasional holes. It is no easy journey along the ice- 
bound fringe of the coast, northwards to Cape Pogobi, and 
thence across the snow-covered frozen sea to the mainland. 

To the narta, as the sledge is called, are harnessed 
thirteen dogs of the Arctic type. No. 1 is the leader, a 
valuable animal, the cleverest and most experienced. He 
has shoulder-straps, and one also passing between his legs 
is attached to the sledge. To this strap the others are 
joined by thongs on either side, and should any shirk 
their work, they are pounced upon by the leader or their 
fellows, and severely bitten. No reins, nothing but the 
strap connects the team with the sledge and its driver. The 
narta is a lightly constructed framework of wood, about 
fourteen inches high and fourteen feet long. Higgledy- 
piggledy lie the dogs outside the post-office at Alex- 
androvsk, their master in furs, mocassins and long skin 
hood, from out which peeps his pigtail. But already the 



THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN 109 

mails are out and on the narta, and the Gilyak, seizing the 
dogs, casts them to right and left. Throwing himself 
quickly astride of the sledge, feet on rails, clasping his two 
short iron-shod sticks, and calling, Ti ti, i.e. "Forward," 
to the dogs, the mail is away. A dash down the hill, and 
less than a mile's run brings them to the sea ; but which 
is sea and which is land ? All is covered with snow. For 
100 miles they pursue their course over the frozen fringe 
of the sea. 

Should they meet a traveller, the driver digs his 
sticks (caur) into the snow, and calls, " Pore ! " (Stop !) or 
" Kau / Kau ! " (Right ! Right !) The dogs swerve, the left 
leg of the Gilyak is seen oddly in the air, but the sticks 
maintain his balance, and the equipage is quickly turned 
aside. Should the owner, however, fail to see the traveller, 
the dogs may fly at the stranger and do him grievous 
injury, for in order to keep them running they are only 
half fed until the end of the journey. 

From Cape Pogobi the crossing of the Straits is made 
in a north-westerly direction, threading the Khazeliv Islands 
to a Gilyak village Mi on the opposite shore, nearly fifty 
miles distant. This part of the journey must be compassed 
in daylight, and an early start (5 a.m.) is made. At first 
the dogs speed along over the smooth snow-covered surface 
at about seven miles an hour, with halts of fvwQ. or ten 
minutes at every ten versts (6§ miles) to give them breath. 
As the middle is neared rougher going is met with, for 
hummocky ice has been piled up by the wind in open 
water, and detours have to be made to avoid dangerous 
holes. So strong is the wind that the narrow strait between 
Capes Lazarev and Pogobi, though barely five miles across, 
is always kept open, the ice being swept onwards as quickly 
as it forms, to cling to the fringe further south, therefore 
it is that the crossing lengthens out to nearly fifty miles. 

Halfway across a halt is called, and the dogs are given 
half a dried fish each. Time presses, however, the days 



no IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

are short, and soon they are off again, the driver calling to 
his team, " Tack ! tach ! " (On ! on !) to hasten their steps. 
At last the islands are reached and threaded, but the sun 
has already set, and darkness has descended ere the glad 
sounds of barking announce the arrival at the Gilyak 
village of Mi. 

The next day the coast must be skirted again, and the 
Amur ascended, unless the driver is venturesome and takes 
a short cut, clambering over the Pronge headland, before 
Nikolaevsk can be reached. 

It is by no means an easy journey, and not to be 
attempted without an experienced kaya (driver), for 
open water or a thinly frozen surface may swallow the 
unwary. 

Two men this winter (1902-3) made an attempt to 
cross on a horse-sledge. They were, I believe, ex-convict 
merchants, but nothing has been heard of them since, up 
to the time of writing. The two horses were found in the 
Straits, one frozen to death, and the other nearly so ; but 
no trace of their masters at all. It seemed most likely 
that they had been drowned, but how they had met this 
fate, and the horses escaped, was a mystery. Possibly, 
overtaken by darkness, they ventured on foot to find a 
way, and were engulfed in a hole or in the open sea to 
the south. 

Such are the dangers and difficulties of the journey of 
the mails, and of any venturous passenger during midwinter 
from Sakhalin to the mainland. 

We can picture the excitement of the first arrival, after 
the many weeks' absence of news, as the team of dogs 
dashes up the hill to the post-office. Outside stands a sign- 
post, as if to remind the inhabitants of their exile and 
hopeless separation from civilization, with the inscription, 
"St. Petersburg, 10,186 versts " (6752 miles). 

Another interval of six weeks' or two months' isolation 
follows midwinter communication, during which no ship 



00 




THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN in 

can plough the ice-laden strait nor sledge venture across 
the treacherous ice. 

Although it is common knowledge that the farther east 
of Paris one goes, the more extreme is the climate, a fact 
which Napoleon did not seem to have realized in 1812, 
yet we should scarcely expect such extremes of climate as 
a range of 149 Fahr. on an island in the same latitude. 
There appear to be two main causes. The first is the pre- 
valence of northerly and north-westerly winds in winter, and 
of southerly and south-easterly in summer ; the second is 
the presence of a cold current from the Okhotsk Sea flowing 
down both sides of the island. The ice, led by the current 
and driven by the wind from this great reservoir of frost, 
fills up all the northern portion of the Straits of Tartary, 
and makes of it a continuation of the sub-arctic region 
of frost. 

The winter's cold is, however, fine and dry, and though 
it has been said that Sakhalin does not know the calm 
days that prevail throughout the winter in Eastern Siberia, 
yet during the latter half of January and the month of 
February, beautiful bright windless days succeed one 
another on the island, and the dog-sledges and reindeer 
are brought out, and the natives make their journeys for 
the barter of skins. 

The climate has been much maligned, and the notion 
of a land of fog and snow still holds the popular imagina- 
tion. For such ideas we are largely indebted to navigators. 
The truth is that there is a great deal of fog at sea, but 
the mariners were not aware that it generally remains — 
like themselves, at sea — leaving a margin of about four 
miles from the land clear. The thawing of the river 
Amur, the floating down the Straits of great ice-blocks, 
and the mingling of cold and warm currents, or a keen 
northerly blast on the summer sea, are the causes which 
contribute to this state of things. 

Mr. H. de Windt, after a flying visit to the island, has 



ii2 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

written, "There are fogs throughout the year, except in 
the interior." Dr. James Y. Simpson, in his admirable 
book on Siberia, gives us a chapter on Sakhalin, compiled 
from statistics, and in it he remarks, " In the Alexan- 
drovsky district there were only five days free from rain, 
cloud, or fog in 1895, and in no year has there ever been 
more than nine or ten. The island is therefore almost 
unsuitable for ordinary settlers, and forms only a penal 
colony." I have before me the meteorological reports for 
several years, and reference to them shows the number 
of clear days (and the sky has to undergo a very strict 
examination before the meteorological authorities will 
pass it as clear) in the year 1895 was no less than forty. 
There is less annual cloudiness, in other words, more sun- 
shine recorded on the island than in England, and the 
rainfall also averages less, being but 22J inches. 

My own experience, as well as the meteorological 
records, runs counter to the above-mentioned authors' 
remarks. 

At the time when the break-up of the weather is 
expected, i.e. in September and early October, I enjoyed 
brilliantly sunny days on Sakhalin, such as one seldom 
gets in England. During the whole of the fifty days I 
spent on the island I never saw a fog, but on several 
occasions the coast-line of the mainland, sixty miles dis- 
tant, was visible. 

The southern portion of the island, having a more 
temperate, or rather, less extreme climate, experiences, in 
parts, more fog and humidity than the northern half. 

If I had almost omitted in this brief risume of the 
history and physical conditions of Sakhalin to say any- 
thing of its geological formation, it would have been 
because so little is known. The island is attributed to the 
Tertiary period, although the Secondary is represented in 
the south by green sandstone, containing cretaceous sea- 
urchins; and I have observed on the coast, at Alexandrovsk, 



THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN 113 

just to the north of Jonquiere Point, huge ammonites in 
the ferruginous marl. 

Attempts have been made to find traces of geologically- 
recent volcanic action, but so far they have not met with 
success. Posting one day along the sands south of the 
headland just mentioned, I descended to examine some- 
thing that caught my attention, and found what I thought 
to be a piece of lava. On inquiry, however, I learned that 
an adjoining coal-mine had been set on fire, accidentally 
or wilfully, by convicts, and had been smouldering for 
thirty years ; hence my discovery ! It seems much more 
probable that, while the line of volcanic action runs down 
from Kamchatka through the Kurile Islands and Japan, 
Sakhalin represents the remaining outcrop of the line 
of weakness. In general exposures — the cliffs to the 
north of Alexandrovsk and the banks of the river Tim — 
showed conglomerate resting on a hard argillaceous sand- 
stone, and occasionally calcareous schist. Marine fossils 
have been found at eight feet elevation above low-water 
mark, and the natural conclusion is that the island is 
undergoing a period of emergence. The presence of nearly 
completed lagoons on the north-east and south-west coasts 
are also evidence of this emergence. 

The story of the earliest occupation of Sakhalin carries 
us back to prehistoric times. To-day, in addition to the 
latest comers — the Russians — five different peoples are 
found on the island. They are the Ainus, Gilyaks, 
Orochons, Tungus and Yakuts. Of the last, a Turki 
tribe whose habitat is Eastern Siberia with the town of 
Yakutsk as a centre, there are only ten men and three 
women on Sakhalin. 

Which of these five peoples, it will be asked, were 
the aborigines? The Tungus, whose home is also in 
Eastern Siberia, and who roam from the borders of 
Korea to the Arctic Ocean, and from the Yenisei river 
to the Okhotsk Sea, are certainly not, for they have 

I 



ii4 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

arrived since the Russians. The Gilyak hunters pro- 
bably came over from the mainland before the Orochon, 
and whether we are right in conjecturing their first settle- 
ment to have been made not earlier than two and a half 
centuries ago, it is certain that their traditions testify to 
their meeting the Ainus already in occupation of the 
island. 

Whence did the Ainus come, and are we to regard 
them as the aborigines of Sakhalin? This race, finding 
itself among Mongol peoples, one of whose striking cha- 
racteristics is their comparatively hairless faces, has struck 
the imagination of strangers by its possession of abundant 
hair and full beards. Their patriarchal look and absence 
of any marked Mongoloid features have further puzzled 
the ethnologist in attempting to classify them. Some of 
their customs are similar to those of northern tribes, and 
have induced a belief in their northern origin ; but there 
are others, e.g. the habit of tattooing, which savour of the 
south, and we know by history and the old Ainu place- 
names in the south of Japan that they have been driven 
north thence to the island of Yezo. Probably the origin 
of the Sakhalin Ainus must be sought either in the flight 
of refugees from Yezo on the imposition of the Japanese 
yoke, or the early and original migrations of the race from 
the mainland (now the Primorsk). 

They themselves, like their brethren in Yezo, have a 
legend that a pit-dwelling race were in possession before 
them ; and they point to the scooped-out holes and kitchen- 
middens which are near their own villages of Siraroka and 
Tikmenev, on the east coast of Sakhalin. In these have 
been found obsidian and diorite implements, and clay 
potsherds. The Ainus have not been known to make 
stone implements, and diorite and obsidian do not as far 
as we know exist on the island. Moreover, the Ainus 
disclaim the knowledge and art of making clay vessels, 
and call the dwellers in these holes the Tontchi or Toichi. 



3 
> 







THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN 115 

In Ainu tot means clay, and chi baked or dried, i.e. 
" Makers of baked clay vessels." 

In recent years we have been continually meeting with 
further evidence of the existence of prehistoric dwarf race 
in our own land and elsewhere. Kamchatkan legends 
seem to indicate the comparatively recent (400 years) 
existence of a dwarf people in that peninsula, and if that 
be so, then further links are added to the chain of pigmies 
stretching from Africa to Behring Straits, through the 
Andaman Islands, the Malay Peninsula, Formosa, Yezo, 
Sakhalin and Kamchatka. 

Of the origins of the other three tribes it is almost 
as difficult to conjecture as of the Ainus. The Tungus, 
so-called, we may class as the most backward — the wildest 
offshoots of the race, of which the Manchu is the most 
civilized representative to-day, the people that has given 
China her reigning dynasty for the last two and a half 
centuries. A thousand years ago, according to Chinese 
records, these tribes were beyond the limits of even the 
peoples who brought yearly tribute of skins and arrows 
to the Court of China; and even in 1586 the annalist 
described them as "wild men of the northern mountains 
who ride about on deer." To go back further is to lose 
ourselves in conjecture. 

Philologists, who handle milleniums as ordinary his- 
torians do centuries, tell us that from the seat of the Asiatic 
peoples in the Altai region, on the borders of Siberia and 
Western Mongolia, occurred several wanderungen some- 
where between 5000 and 7000 years ago, and the offshoots 
which were to become the Chinese and the Japanese 
peoples were followed by the Mongols, Turks, and Manchus 
or Tungus. 

A study of the Orochons suggest that they are a tribe 
which has mostly Tungus blood in its veins, mingled by 
intermarriage with various neighbours, such as the Gilyaks, 
Golds, etc. 



u6 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

The Gilyaks are even more difficult to classify racially. 
Separated in speech, manners and customs from their 
neighbours, they yet have some affinities in feature. This 
only adds to the puzzle ; for while many have scarcely 
any hair on their faces, others, whose ancestors, perhaps, 
have intermarried with Ainus, have bushy beards and 
copious heads of hair. The most plausible suggestion is 
that they are of a semi-Tungus, semi-Mongol race. Phi- 
lologists of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, and 
of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, hold 
that their language knits them in origin to the dwellers 
on the Pacific coast of Northern Asia, and America, and 
the Aleutian isles. 

The total number of natives on the island is between 
4000 and 5000, of whom about 1 300 are Ainus, more than 2000 
Gilyaks, at least 750 Orotchons, and perhaps 200 Tungus. 

The island is therefore very sparsely populated ; and how 
sparsely may be judged from the fact that during more 
than three days' journeying on the river Tim, the native 
highway to the east coast, I saw not a solitary person or 
dwelling. 

The Russian occupation is practically confined to the 
district enclosed in a radius of thirty miles from Alexan- 
drovsk on the west coast, and another smaller one around 
Korsakovsk in the south. 

The island is divided into three administrative districts 
— the Alexandrovsk, Timovsk, and Korsakovsk okrugu 
Each of these is presided over by a chief of the district, or 
okrtizhni nachalnik, over whom is the military Governor of 
the island. The latter has great authority, but in his turn is 
subject to the Governor-general of the Pri-Amursky oblast. 

The biggest prison centre is at Alexandrovsk. The 
next is at Korsakovsk, and the Timovsk district has two, 
one at Derbensk and the other at Rikovsk, thirty-five 
and forty-four miles, respectively, by road inland from 
Alexandrovsk. 



THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN 117 

Immediately around these centres clearings have been 
made, and beyond are a few villages dotted about in 
the forest, with a population varying from 200 to none 
at all ! I came across one, poverty-stricken, with huts 
roofed with bark and a liberal allowance of holes (!), which 
contained six men only. In the late Governor's report he 
mentions the arrival of soldiers, who were tracking escaped 
convicts, at one that had the large total of two, and yet 
another that had none at all ! 

The Russian connection with the island dates from 
1852, when Lieutenant Boshniak was sent to explore 
Sakhalin, the possession of which had become necessary 
in order to guard the entrance to the Amur, at which a 
year before the Russian flag had been planted. During 
the following year Ilinsky Post (Kusunai), on the west 
coast, and Muravievsk Post, in the Bay of Aniva, were 
formed. In 1858, forty convicts were at work in the coal- 
mines at Dui, on the west coast, and in 1869, 800 were 
forwarded from Trans-Baikalia. 

The Japanese, who had been alarmed at the landing of 
the Russians in Aniva Bay at the beginning of the century, 
were now considerably disturbed by the activity of the 
Russians. 

For decades back, Japanese fishers and traders in 
skins, etc., had haunted the coasts of Sakhalin. Now 
Russia wanted to claim the whole island. For the time 
an amicable arrangement was come to, with a joint owner- 
ship and freedom to occupy unoccupied territory. This, of 
course, could not last, and finally, in 1875, negotiations 
were completed by which Japan gave up her claim to the 
southern half of the island. In lieu thereof she received 
the cession of the Kurile islands, and an annual payment 
for a fixed number of years. A Japanese consul has his 
residence at Korsakovsk to receive this, and to pay a pro 
rata tax levied on the Japanese fishermen who still ply 
their trade in Sakhalin waters. 



CHAPTER VII 
ALEXANDROVSK TO SLAVO 

Into the interior by kibitka — A " Free-command " — Miserable crops 
— A tragedy by the wayside — The famous Robin Hood of Sak- 
halin and his escapades — On the track of brodyagi. 

TO resume my narrative where I left off at the end 
of Chapter III.; the morning of September n 
my interpreter and I were ready prepared with 
arms, provisions, outfit, and articles of barter for the 
expedition to the north-east coast of the island. 

To compass my object of visiting the native tribes on 
the banks of the Tim and along the coast, it was necessary 
to make for the nearest spot on the river where it was 
navigable for native canoes, and then to descend it for 
about 200 miles. So dense was the primeval forest, that 
the river alone afforded a route to us and to the natives 
to the east coast. 

A preliminary journey of thirty-five miles by a convict- 
made road to the prison centre of Derbensk lay before us, 
followed by fifteen miles of forest, threaded by a track, 
which must be traversed somehow, we knew not how. 
At the end of this was the village of Slavo, on the Tim, 
where we hoped to find natives to take us in a canoe 
down to the sea and along the coast. This much we had 
been able to glean beforehand of our route, and the rest 
had to be gathered as we went along. 

A troika (team of three horses) was ordered for 6 a.m., 

118 



ALEXANDROVSK TO SLAVO 119 

and with Russian punctuality, a drozhky, or, more strictly 
speaking, a kibitka, of primitive description, with three 
rough steeds, dashed up two hours later. 

It was a most unaccommodating vehicle in which to 
stow ourselves and baggage. In front sat the izvostchik, 
and parallel to his seat was ours, giving just room for two. 
A bare board with three or four inches of back, scarcely 
sufficient to prevent us being jerked off or slipping off 
backwards, is not the most comfortable seat for a day 
and a half's journey, and we retained reminiscences, for 
longer than we cared, of our intimate acquaintance with a 
Sakhalin kibitka. 

In addition to our two selves, six puds * of baggage, 
chiefly in sacks, had to be stowed away somehow. Most 
of it was roped on behind, while the rest was packed with 
difficulty between our feet. That which was behind de- 
manded a constant look-out, lest by much jolting it should 
drop by the way or fall a prey to the unnoticed brodyaga 
experienced in the stealthy abstraction of passengers' 
luggage. 

The centre horse of a troika is strapped in an arched 
yoke (duga), which holds his head erect in a somewhat 
vice-like grip, while the outside horses are held by an 
off-rein apiece only. When you chance to be flying along 
the even sands of the seashore, the centre horse stepping 
high and the outside horses galloping, and the three bells 
on the duga merrily ringing, the sensation is indeed 
delightful. 

It was nearly 9 o'clock before all was securely packed 
on to the kibitka; and we were off and away past the 
prison, the church, and the post-office and down the hill 
towards the Little Alexandrovka river. Here at Mr. Y.'s 
house and stores we stopped to leave parting instructions. 
With his usual politeness he offered to telegraph forward 
to the Nachalnik Derbenskoy turmi (the chief of the 
* A pud = 40 lbs. Russian, or 36*11 lbs. English. 



120 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

prison at Derbensk), to smooth the way for us, an action 
which was duly appreciated the next day. 

On leaving the house we followed the river, passing on 
our right the hill to the north, with its dreary cemetery 
and terrible records of crime, our route lying along the 
seashore to Arkovo, the place of our previous visit on 
horseback. Guiding our vehicle over the drier parts, 
avoiding the snake-like channels in which the river lost 
itself before reaching the sea, about half a mile farther, we 
came to an old pirate vessel (Korean, I believe) lying high 
and dry. A head suddenly appeared over the taffrail, 
and the owner of it, quickly taking stock of us, of our 
guns, revolvers, and daggers, wished us, " Zdravstvuete /" 
(Good morning !) 

Two days later he was arrested with another already 
referred to who was in hiding, for having murdered a youth 
who had gone out shooting, and with whom we had just 
parted. 

Outlawed and ekeing out a miserable existence on 
provisions saved from his prison rations, with the surrep- 
titious aid of confreres who were now settled ; or by 
threatening lonely passers-by along the shore at nights, 
the murderer had come at length to the end of his tether. 
This was an opportunity of procuring a gun, which meant 
also a supply of food in the taiga. 

What hope of escape is there for such ? Very little. 
Many trust that they will get as far north as Pogobi, where 
the straits narrow, and, evading the cordons of soldiers, 
the many dangers of detection, the meeting with trackers, 
there be able to procure a boat from the Gilyaks in which 
to cross over to the mainland. Few succeed in these 
later times, and, if they do, their case is only one stage 
less bad in the lonely taiga of the mainland or in the 
vicinity of the 'prison officials of the Amur. But often 
before Pogobi is reached the guns, axes, or clothes with 
which they had hoped to purchase a boat from the natives, 



1 + 2 




MAP OF 

NORTHERN SAKHALIN 



dut-bor's Canoe] 

Route 
Unexplored Coost' 



1 • 1,680,000 



East o/ Ortcncjich. ** a 



[To face p. 120. 



ALEXANDROVSK TO SLAVO 121 

have gone in barter for food, and winter is upon them. 
There is then only one course open, for winter is more 
relentless than the trackers whom they have successfully 
evaded hitherto, and starvation and death from cold stare 
them in the face ; they must give themselves up, undergo the 
flogging, and be re-installed in prison with an additional 
sentence. 

Further along the shore we met a miserable wretch, a 
" free command," dragging a tree trunk through the sea. 
Up to his waist in the cold water, it was his task to haul 
this for ten miles from Arkovo to Alexandrovsk. When 
the steam-tug is not at liberty, five or six convicts are 
thus engaged in cold or warm weather for hours. It is 
no wonder, as my companion said, that many die ulti- 
mately from exposure. These " free-commands " are 
convicts who have gone through the first two stages of 
prison life in the "probationary," or "testing" and "re- 
formatory" gaols, and are now allowed to live out in 
barracks. If married, and his wife has followed him, the 
" free command " may live with her outside of the prison 
in a hut, on condition that he does his hard labour 
duty. If the latter is log-dragging, then he is respon- 
sible for taking 120 into Alexandrovsk during the year. 
Whether this one was undergoing further punishment, 
that he should be subjected to this hard, and, in cold 
weather, dangerous toil, I do not know, but for this my 
companion said the ill-famed Chief of the Alexandrovsk 
Prison was responsible. 

Turning inland at the Gilyak village, we passed through 
the Russian Arkovo, the first, for there are three hamlets 
of that name, where we had experienced the hospitality 
of the convict-farmer three days since. Our journey now 
took us beyond, by a road winding through a beautiful 
valley. If the little gardens, with their cabbages and 
potatoes, had astonished me before with their look of 
contentment, so did now the reverse side of the picture, 



122 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

the miserably poor cereal crops standing in the little 
strips of clearings which fringed the road — crops that 
could not have yielded more than a two or threefold 
return on the sowings. Referring to the official records 
for the year 1898, I find that wheat and oats, which were 
the chief cereals sown in this village, yielded 37 and 
4 "4-fold harvests, against a 15 -fold average in England. 
Potatoes showed better results with 67-fold crop. In the 
village of Slavo, which we reached the following day, the 
record was terrible, the wheat yield for the same year 
being eleven grains for every ten sown ! And, as if to 
make more obvious the settlers' inability or culpable 
failure to grow enough corn to satisfy their needs, we 
overtook several telyegi (primitive springless carts), drawn 
by oxen and Siberian ponies, laden with sacks of Ameri- 
can flour from Portland, Oregon. A political exile, writing 
in the official Sakhalin Kalendar of 1896, lays most of the 
blame for the unsatisfactory state of the outlying settle- 
ments at the officials' doors. He claims that the system, 
under which the " exile-settlers " * are sent to found new 
villages in the forests, is not given a fair trial, and adds 
that it is the worst men who are shipped off to these parts, 
because they are as sores in the eyes of the officials. 
Furthermore, the " exile-settlers " are often despatched to 
places that no sane man would have chosen, thus making, 
what was at best a hard life, an impossible one. Colonel 
Garnak, in the eighties, sent out to scientifically explore 
the island, is said to have come to the conclusion that 
colonization was in a very bad state owing to the " faulty 
administration." 

On the other hand, the ex-convicts do not make the 
best of their circumstances. Small love have they for the 
island which is their prison-land, and, even if reconciled to 
it, the industry and perseverance needed in a struggle with 

* One whose sentence has expired, but who must remain on the 
island for six more years without legal rights. 



ALEXANDROVSK TO SLAVO 123 

nature are not forthcoming from those who have sought 
in their days of freedom to live by avoiding honest work. 

Some weeks later I met a Caucasian Kazak, who was 
a striking exception to the ordinary run of Sakhalin 
criminals. Whatever his crime may have been, probably 
insurrection, he was very energetic, and most successful. 
Living at the village of Uskovo, in the interior, in the 
midst of forest which involved no little labour in clearing, 
and harboured many a destructive enemy of his cattle, he 
owned, he told us, no less than fifty cows, and sowed his 
150 puds of corn. He claimed to get a twelve-fold crop, 
which, even if we make some allowance for exaggeration, 
was really no less extraordinary for Sakhalin than his 
unwonted energy. In speaking of agriculture on the island, 
he attributed the small crops usually obtained to the 
laziness of the " peasants " * and their carelessness in sowing 
the seed, " scattering here," as he said, " in excess, and there 
insufficiently." " Yes," he added, " I know of one who has 
sown wheat on the same patch of ground for seven years 
consecutively, and reaped a good harvest each year ; but 
the "peasants" don't love the land, they take from it, 
but gave her back nothing." A picture true enough of 
the majority, for whom life means the obtaining of just a 
bare existence. 

Conditions of soil, and natural drainage of course vary 
very widely, and the Caucasian was fortunate in the occupa- 
tion of a hilly and comparatively dry region, such as he was 
used to in his home-land ; but very different is it in the 
swamps, where bitter winds prevail, and the sowing is 
delayed, and the early frosts nip the ear while its contents 
are yet soft. Continuing our journey, and leaving behind 
the carts laden with flour and barrels of salted fish bound 
for the prisons, we saw an empty telyega approaching 

* A peasant is an ex-convict who has completed his six years of 
" exile-settlership," and now has the return of certain elementary civil 
rights, including those of the right to move from place to place. 



124 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

from the opposite direction, on the side of which sat a man 
to whom my companion called my attention. It appeared 
that he was a Swede, and I inquired how it was that he 
came to be a convict on Sakhalin. My interpreter replied, 
"He was a lieutenant in the Finland Army, and his 
colonel, having made some insulting remark about his 
subaltern's fianc£e> the lieutenant boxed his senior officer's 
ears on parade ; and was therefore sentenced to fifteen 
years' hard labour on Sakhalin." This means that he must 
spend six years in addition as " exile-settler " on Sakhalin, 
and six more as " peasant " (with freedom to move in 
Siberia), before he will be allowed to return to Europe. He 
may get away earlier to Siberia, if he can obtain sufficient 
money to travel and buy himself into a commune, or should 
an employer on the mainland send for him — always 
supposing that he can get the permission of the Chief of 
his district on the island. As a matter of fact, ninety-nine 
out of every hundred fail to get away. 

But the way, if one could forget the terrible social 
atmosphere, was wildly beautiful. The winding road 
reminded me of the last rickshaw ride in Japan down to 
pleasant little Mogi. Here, however, were no luscious green 
patches of growing paddy, picked out by dark clumps of 
cypresses, or hidden momentarily from our view by an avenue 
of graceful bamboos. Nevertheless, the shades of green were 
almost as varied among the birches and pines, the aspen 
and spruce, the mountain-ash, the willows and the elms, 
which clothed the fine hill slopes. On the hedges the wild 
rose had done its work of garlanding, and had now given 
way to the wild raspberry, and the lavish prodigality of the 
red elderberry {Sambucus racemosa), which literally decked 
the route with scarlet. Butterflies flitted in the sunshine 
fritillaries, peacocks and Camberwell beauties, and nothing 
told of coming autumn save a few falling leaves. 

At the first post-station, the village of Arkovo the third, 
we found the horses had been taken, but my companion's 



ALEXANDROVSK TO SLAVO 125 

manner and a pourboire soon produced some — lent by 
the villagers. Unroping, unlading and relading one's 
baggage at each stage was a troublesome business, but it 
had to be done, and careful watch had to be kept lest the 
izvostchiky or a companion in league, might mistake some of 
it for his own. While the horses were being found, we 
discussed a midday meal, congratulating ourselves that we 
had not to spend the night here, for a room absolutely 
bare, save a table and bench, did not offer attractive 
accommodation. Khlyeb i chai — black bread and tea (in a 
tumbler) — were forthcoming, but anything further, including 
sugar, had to be supplied by ourselves. 

On starting again, the road crossed the stream which 
had cut its way up the valley. As we neared the wooden 
bridge, Mr. X. pointed it out as the scene of many tragedies. 
One of these had happened while he was doctor at 
Arkovo the first. Hither had come one day an "exile- 
settler" on his way to Alexandrqvsk, for his time had 
expired and he had saved sufficient to enable him to 
realize his great longing to quit the prison island for ever. 
As he was resting on the bridge, there came along the road 
another villager, a " free command," who sat down beside 
him, and began chatting. Suddenly, without warning, the 
latter struck the exile a heavy blow on his head, stunning 
him, and then, finishing his terrible work, dropped the body 
into the stream. Having possessed himself of his victim's 
"book," or certificate, showing that his time of exileship 
had expired and entitling him to leave the island if he had 
sufficient means, he made his way to a village, where he 
thought he would be unknown, and asked for work. 
However, Fate pursued him, for it happened that the 
original owner of the certificate was known there, suspicion 
was aroused, and the murderer was clapped into prison 
pending the inquiries which duly brought his crime to 
light. 

Our izvostchik was also a convict, a "free command," and 



126 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

we judged it wise to keep an eye upon him, lest he should 
be in concert with erstwhile companions in prison now at 
large in the forest ; yet I was glad that the Russian system 
on the island admitted of a man who was still undergoing 
his sentence of hard labour, being allowed to do pro- 
ductive work outside of the prison walls. Surely this 
is a chance, other things being favourable, for the man 
to rise to better things — only one has reluctantly to come to 
the conclusion, I fear, that other things are not favourable. 

Our road continued to rise until it reached a level of 
about 700 feet. The backbone of the island is crossed by 
practically only three passes, of which this is the chief. 
Another, used by the natives, leads from the river Tim to 
the west coast, north of Arkovo, and the third lies 200 miles 
to the south, between Kusunai and Manue. Rumour told 
of one in the extreme north, used by the native Gilyaks ; 
but I believe no white man has ever trodden it. Arriving 
at the top of the pass, our route led us across an undu- 
lating plateau for several miles, until finally it descended 
to the bed of the upper reaches of the river Tim. 

The next post-house at which we changed horses was 
Verkhniy Armudan. It was a poor-looking settlement, and 
when we called for the usual glass of tea, and for a spoon to 
stir our own sugar in it, a child had to be sent to borrow 
one in the village. Possibly sugar was a luxury here, or 
more probably they were accustomed to economize it in 
Siberian fashion, by holding the lump between the teeth, 
as the golden liquid was swallowed. 

Resuming again we made rapid progress, for our 
izvostchik of the previous stage had no doubt informed 
our present one that we " tipped " well, and we — well we 
had calculated on that. 

Speeding down from the plateau to the valley of the Tim, 
it was already dusk ere we reached the clearing in which 
the prison settlement of Derbensk stood ; and, thundering 
across the timber bridge, drew up on the grassy fringe of 



ALEXANDROVSK TO SLAVO 127 

the road before a new log-built store. The question of 
night shelter was quickly settled, for we had been recom- 
mended by my landlady in Alexandrovsk to ask for her 
sister, whose husband, until lately an overseer and tracker 
of convicts, had recently set up a little store. We were 
welcomed ; and there was no difficulty made about putting 
us up, for was there not the full extent of the floor 
of the living room. What wall-paper could equal the 
fresh-smelling pine-logs, with alternating pattern of moss- 
filled crevices, and what bed the fresh, clean, plank-boarded 
floor? A skin and a rug, and revolvers by our heads, and 
we were soon oblivious of its uncompromising levelness. 

But much had to be done before retiring. The problem 
of transport to the village of Slavo on the morrow was yet 
unsolved. So without further delay we started off to 
interview the Chief of the prison, who, though apparently 
rather bored, issued orders that we were to be allowed 
to post to Slavo. To the north of Derbensk such methods 
of progress were not usual, for the road only extended 
a few miles, and then became a track ; however, the influ- 
ence of the chief of the prison was sufficient for the 
occasion. But Mr. X. thought it desirable to go off and 
see the orders carried out, and found the telegraph chief 
lying flat on his back, drunk, in the garden in front of his 
office, regardless of the fact that he presented excellent 
booty for thieves. Apparently this was a favourite posture 
in Derbensk ; for it was reported here that the major- 
general, sent over that summer to organize the military 
forces and to hold a field-day, had been found in a similar 
position, but in his case he had scorned the privacy of his 
own retreat, and occupied a public position, as befitted his 
rank, in the middle of the road ! 

Our host and hostess proved a very worthy couple. 
Their new venture was by no means an easy or encouraging 
one. There was already the Crown store (an institution 
peculiar to Sakhalin) to compete with, and the " gentle 



128 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

art" of shopkeeping was not without its dangers. The 
door of the shop had always to be kept locked, and a 
watch maintained from the windows for the approach of 
customers. Truly a terrible life of suspicion and of acting 
continually on the defensive, terrible for parents and 
children alike. I played with the little son of the house- 
hold, and we pitted our Russian each against the other's. 
He was the apple of his mother's eye, and many an anxious 
hour she passed lest, as she said, he should stray out of the 
house into the road, " and then, you, know, he might be 
done away with in a moment for the sake of his clothes." 

The next morning, with parting hints as to Gilyak 
etiquette — for our host had come a good deal into con- 
tact with the natives in the course of his former duties — 
and many an addition to our stock of provisions, we left 
Derbensk for a plunge into the wild interior of the island. 

A very primitive kibitka, even for Sakhalin, laden with 
the various sacks, and increased by recent additions to our 
larder, bore us away, guns in hand, towards the forest. 
Turning northwards at the prison, we left the dreary 
stockade on our right, and sped down the long village of 
convicts' and ex-convicts' huts, which line the wide grassy 
track. In front of the smithy a horse was being shod, 
strung up by the legs, topsy-turvy, quite helpless and 
harmless, and probably not over comfortable. Women 
were drawing water at wells, that reminded me of the 
shadoufs of Egypt, or lats of North- West India, which 
are like the letter T in shape, the crosspiece see-sawing in 
the act of drawing up and letting down the bucket. It 
was only one of the many touches in Russia that strike 
the observer as Eastern ; from the cleanly custom of washing 
in running water, poured from a can, to the less admired 
habit of equivocation in diplomacy. 

Leaving the village behind, the way passed through a 
mile or so of clearing before plunging into the forest. 
Here the open valley and hillsides were so many fields 




w 

ft) 

ft] 

> 

o 

c 

W 
> 
po 

> 




ALEXANDROVSK TO SLAVO 129 

and slopes of giant stubble, for axe and fire had left the 
stumps of larch, birch, and spruce on the neutral-tinted 
slopes. 

A deserted saw- mill, built over a torrential stream, 
witnessed to the lumber work done in the past here by the 
convicts. It was close by this mill that the famous 
Barratasvili, the Robin Hood of Sakhalin, met his death. 
In a moment of weariness he forgot his usual precautions, 
and taken off his guard, met with the fate he had often 
meted out to others. Many a story is told over the supper- 
table of this daring leader ; and the reader will see from 
his portrait, reproduced here, that he was a striking excep- 
tion to the dull heavy type of Sakhalin criminal. I believe, 
but am not quite sure, that the crime for which he was 
despatched to Sakhalin was forgery. My landlord, Mr. 
M., who had been an overseer in the Alexandrovsk prison, 
said of him : " During the three and a half years of his 
incarceration he was well-behaved, and gave no trouble. 
There were many prisoners with whom I dared not walk a 
few yards, but with Barratasvili I did not hesitate. After he 
was let out of gaol as a * free command ' he became a servant 
in a family, and was most kindly with the children." Sud- 
denly, and to the astonishment of the officials, he escaped 
and fled to the mainland. Warning, however, was given, 
and he was arrested at Nikolaevsk and sent back. No 
sooner was he on shore again, than, midway between the 
pristan and the town, on the road I was so often warned to 
keep a look-out on, he gave his guard the slip and escaped 
into the forest. Hard pushed for food, he murdered a 
merchant who was proceeding from Due to Alexandrovsk 
with the proceeds of the sale of some horses to the military 
regiment upon him. 

Then, gathering around him three or four companions, 
he and his band struck terror into many a heart, yet their 
deeds were aimed against the rich, and he showed himself 
always willing to aid the poor who in their turned helped 

K 



130 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

him. Another wayfarer on the road to Due was killed for 
his gun, and yet another near to my lodging in Alex- 
androvsk. News of his daring feats were common talk, 
and many an unsuccessful hunt was made by the authori- 
ties. The overseers, too, were on the alert, for such a 
daring organizer and skilful tactician was a rare prey. 
Meanwhile, Barratasvili continued to evade the net spread 
for him, and with consummate daring ventured into the 
enemy's territory. 

One evening my companion told me he was spending 
the time at Dr. P.'s, when a lieutenant, detained by 
official duties, arrived about II p.m. Apologizing for the 
lateness of his arrival, he explained that the Governor had 
ordered him to take one hundred soldiers and search the 
houses in Alexandrovsk at 3 a.m. for Barratasvili. At the 
same time he begged of his host secrecy, since his in- 
structions were not to be divulged. The search was 
unavailing, yet my interpreter met Barratasvili, muffled up 
in a shuba (skin-lined coat), within two paces of the doctor's 
house, at 7 o'clock the next morning, four hours after 
the search had commenced ! 

On another occasion, with four companions partially 
disguised in their long shubi, under which they concealed 
their revolvers and rifles, he entered the stores kept by Mr. 
Borradin, which are up the hill towards the back of the 
town. Posting one of his men at the door to keep watch, 
he ordered the others to fire. This was merely intended to 
frighten Mr. Borradin and his assistants, who naturally 
fled. The robbers then helped themselves to the jewellery 
from a counter-case, and emptied the till and desk of 
all the cash, in all about 2000 rubles worth. Emerging 
into the street, they made good their retreat into the forest, 
firing a shot or two to warn off venturesome pursuers. 
Fortunately for them the scene of this escapade was not in 
the centre of the place, and the noise of shots, if theirs 
reached that distance, is not an uncommon occurrence in 



ALEXANDROVSK TO SLAVO 131 

Alexandrovsk. There are frequent brawls, of which the 
officials take little notice, and revolvers discharged after an 
escaping convict, or to signal a fire to the man in the 
fire-tower. The temerity of this gang did not stop here, 
for they actually went into the town and had their photo- 
graphs taken — of course by an ex-convict. 

But the net was closing round Barratasvili. His 
escapades were notorious, and on all sides he was a 
marked man. It was winter-time when the end came. 
One day, overcome with fatigue, he ventured off the road 
into the forest close to the deserted saw-mill, and with 
his companions fell asleep. An overseer trudging along 
the road noticed the tracks of his skis, and they aroused 
his suspicions. Ordinary travellers do not leave the road 
to plunge into the deep snow of the dense forest He too 
was tired, but he went back to Derbensk and got a posse 
of soldiers. Following up the track, step by step through 
the forest, they came upon the long-sought robbers, resting. 
The alarm was given. Firing began on both sides. The 
leader of the gang was hit in the left shoulder, but still 
continued to fire. The soldiers sought shelter behind 
tree-trunks ; but Barratasvili in taking aim exposed his 
head, and in so doing was shot in the forehead. Their 
leader killed, his companions threw down their arms, were 
taken and beaten by the soldiers with the butt-ends of 
their muskets. In encounters of this kind, the soldiers, 
furious at the loss of their comrades, treat their captives 
most brutally, and in some cases the latter have died 
from the injuries thus received. On the other hand, it is 
scarcely more than the convicts expect, nor more than 
they mete out to a comrade who has broken the rules of 
their artel* 

* Artels, or guilds, are formed with binding rules and regulations, 
and a foreman elected to negotiate with the authorities, as among all 
other crafts. In case of betrayal, the traitor may be sentenced to be 
" roofed," i,e. strangled under a khalat. 



132 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

Three of the four companions of Barratasvili were 
hanged, two at the south-east corner, and one at the 
north-west corner of the yard of the "Testing" prison 
at Alexandrovsk. Such an event, local as it may seem, 
was one of great rarity in the Russian Empire. Jews may 
be murdered by the dozen, or peasants shot down in a 
strike, but murderers have the sacred right of not being 
executed. At the time a friend was in Alexandrovsk, 
and between the stockade poles of the testing prison, 
he saw the body of one of these poor wretches hanging. 
They were all really strangled, he said, not hanged. A 
rope, looped round the neck of the condemned, was led 
over a cross-piece supported by two upright poles ; a box 
was kicked away from the feet of the miserable wretch, 
and he took his chance of instantaneous death or of 
strangulation. This one was a minute and a half in the 
death-struggle. 

Russians are very proud of the fact that capital punish- 
ment, except for regicide — it amounts to this — does not 
exist in their country. Sakhalin is, however, under martial 
law, and while executions are very rare, the murderer of 
an official, the members of a long-defiant band, and one 
who has committed an exceptionally atrocious murder, 
know that they may expect a hanging if caught. 

Leaving the mill we plunged into the thick forest. It 
was a beautiful sunny day, and though the ferns were 
growing golden, there was scarcely a sign of night frosts 
twelve inches above the ground. The birds appeared 
few in number, and could scarcely have been reduced by 
migrations southwards yet. The commonest were the 
white {Motacilla lugens) and the yellow wagtails (M. 
taivana). Occasionally a jay (Garrulus brandtii) flitted 
before us from tree to tree, a kingfisher (Alcedo bengalensis) 
busied himself by the stream, or a gravelly cliff was 
passed, riddled with the homes of sand-martins {Cotyle 
riparia). Overhead a hawk soared, or a crow cawed on 



3 

°3 



to 




ALEXANDROVSK TO SLAVO 133 

his lonely way ; underfoot, or under wheel rather, the track 
became a swamp. For a quarter of a mile or so our way 
was a floating layer of pine-logs, over which we rattled 
and bumped and thumped. 

The forest was continuous and dense. The most con- 
spicuous trees were birch, larch, elm, and nut {Panax 
ricinifolia), while below was a thick undergrowth of spiraea 
(Betulce folia ?), which refuses to grow beneath the needle- 
trees, but keeps company with the larch, wild raspberry, 
elder, the red whortleberry (V actinium vitisidcea), wild 
rose, and great horse-tails (Equisetum sylvaticum). 

Loudly rang out our drozhky bells through the taiga, 
announcing our presence to any lurking brodyagi ; but in 
Sakhalin, where the post is almost entirely used by officials, 
warning them also of the heavy penalty attached to the 
attack on an official. Nevertheless, we had our loaded rifles 
upon our knees. 

A few miles on, two soldiers were passed, trudging 
gamely along, tracking escaped convicts, a miserable and 
dangerous business, though they were armed with bayonets. 
In the previous May and June, of the many brodyagi at 
large, according to the official report, five had been killed 
by soldiers in that district (Timovsk okrug), and thirteen 
during April, May, and June in the Korsakovsk okrug. 
Eighteen officially admitted to have been shot, during 
attempted capture, in less than three months, testified to 
the number at large. Our way became nothing but a 
grass track, and occasionally at the base of a valley a 
stream had to be crossed by a primitive bridge of loose pine- 
poles, laid on cross-pieces, which rattled and slipped under 
our horses' hoofs. As we neared a small village our 
izvostchik, a careless fellow, drove into the midst of five or 
six swine, and one of the horses kicked over the traces and 
fell, but we, leaping out, saved ourselves from an overthrow 
into the milee of kicking and struggling steeds. The 
two soldiers, overtaking us, helped to extricate the 



134 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

frightened animal, which was bleeding at the mouth. 
Annoying as it was, we strongly urged the driver to return 
for the sake of the horse, but he refused, regarding it as a 
slight injury. 

Arrived at Slavo about midday, our further progress in 
this manner was barred, and other means had to be sought, 
if indeed any other were forthcoming, which seemed doubt- 
ful ; for it was not there, as in India with its trains, whereof 
the simple lama in " Kim " had heard in his Tibetan lama- 
serai, that "one but asks a question and pays money, and 
the appointed persons despatch all to the appointed 
place." 



— .. •■■ — 



CHAPTER VIII 
SLAVO TO ADO TIM 

A start is made on the 600-mile canoe journey — A settlement of ill- 
repute — So-called " civil marriage ' ; — A terrible environment for 
children — Doubtful quarters. 

DUMPING our miscellaneous baggage at the house 
that did duty for a stantsiya, or post-house, we 
made our way on foot through the forest edge to 
the river. Here, coming upon an encampment of Gilyak 
natives for the first time, I was struck with their re- 
semblance to the North-American Indians ; their swarthy 
figures, high cheek-bones, raven hair and mocassined 
legs, the impression being heightened by their paddling a 
dug-out canoe. From the huts emerged one or two of 
their women-folk, short and stunted, and some black-haired, 
gipsy-looking children, who stared shyly at us. 

Accosting one of the three men who appeared to be the 
senior, we made known our wish to descend the river to its 
mouth (about 200 miles). Would he take us ? A Russian 
youth, who had guided us to the river, made himself under- 
stood partly in Russian and partly in the Gilyak tongue. 
A categorical " No ! " was the answer. It was spawning- 
time, and he must lay in provisions of yukola (dried fish) 
against the winter. " Well, then, will you take us as far as 
Ado Tim, where, perhaps, we may find another Gilyak 
willing to paddle us further ? " Ado Tim was the next 
village, about twenty miles down the river. 

" No ; not for 1000 rubles ! "■ But after considerable 

i35 



136 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

haggling, his demands fell in a degree unparalleled except 
in the East ; for from iooo rubles his fee dropped to three 
rubles per nose (6 r.), and finally he agreed to undertake 
the trip for four rubles (8s. 6d.)> which we considered a 
handsome reduction on his first demand. 

Returning to the Russian village, we found a peasant's 
cart and an earless pony, wherewith to get our baggage 
down to the river. The poor pony had been robbed of its 
ears by a bear ; how the rest of it escaped I never heard. 
It was probably the same bear of which the villagers com- 
plained to us. Mishka, as they nicknamed him, was in 
the habit of paying nightly visits to their outhouses, and 
making free with their live-stock. They had lain in wait 
for him, but all their efforts had been unsuccessful, Bruin 
proving quite equal to his reputation for 'cuteness. 

The volume and weight of our baggage called forth 
some murmurings on the part of the Gilyaks. Indeed, 
they were not unreasonable in this, for their craft are 
slight and keel-less, and easily upset. However, by stow- 
ing all our chattels away in the middle, and ourselves 
likewise at the bottom of the canoe, towards the ends — 
for there are, of course, no seats — with the two Gilyaks 
at the extreme ends, we managed to satisfy our native 
" paddlers." 

At last our 6oo-mile canoe journey had really com- 
menced ; at least, so we hoped, though we were as yet 
only sure of accomplishing twenty miles of it. However, 
one does not trouble one's head about possibilities in such 
circumstances, but just meets difficulties as they arise. 

It was a lovely afternoon as our primitive bark, paddled 
by strange pigtailed creatures, glided down the still reaches 
of the river into the unknown. Overhead was a glorious 
blue sky, to right and left a virgin forest, and over all a 
stillness unbroken save by the plash of salmon, or the 
quiet word of command in an unknown tongue. Occa- 
sionally a phalanx of wild geese flew silently across the 






SLAVO TO ADO TIM 137 

blue, or a bevy of wild ducks rising from the water fled 
onward, skimming the surface, to a safe distance. 

Then silent enjoyment gave place to expectation, for 
word was passed to have our guns ready for the appearance 
of Bruin. Keeping close watch on the banks, and looking 
ahead to the bend of the river if haply we might spy him 
undisturbed, my camera was got ready for action at the 
same time as my gun ; but, as might be expected with all 
such preparations perfect, " Master Petz " did not put in an 
appearance. It was not until late in the evening that he 
was observed by our natives, who followed him up the next 
morning. Many a footprint of his kind we saw on the 
sandy edge, but he was 'cute enough to frequent the river 
for fishing and drinking at night, excepting occasionally 
when the desire for a snack or a drink overcame his 
prudence. 

Our light craft sped quickly onwards, and many a 
rapid was skilfully shot, and rattling pebbly shoal safely 
overpast, for our Gilyak elder had lived on this part of 
the Tim all his life, and knew every bend and every rapid 
" as he did his five fingers," so he said. Before sunset we 
were nearing Ado Tim, the last Russian penal settlement 
of all in the northern interior. The native village of that 
name was situated on the banks lower down, but the 
settlement lay half a verst from the river. 

We had no wish to arrest our progress here, the settle- 
ment had a very bad reputation, and we would rather 
camp in the open, or among the natives, from what we 
had heard ; but the natives refused to take us further 
except at a prohibitive price, and we went ashore, hoping 
that time would settle our difference. This was not to 
be, however, and we once more found our way blocked. 
Having made preparations, and bought stores, etc., for 
three or four weeks' journey, at the end of the second 
day we were threatened with " no thoroughfare." It was 
unfortunate that our journey should coincide with the 



138 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

spawning season, for it was a serious matter to the Gilyaks 
to forego their period of winter's provisioning. 

But for the nonce we had to find a resting-place for 
ourselves and baggage ; so pressing two soldiers, who had 
been bathing, into our service, and taking our natives, we 
formed a small cavalcade across the swampy track leading 
to the village. On either side of the broad grass track of 
the settlement was a row of higgledy-piggledy, miserably 
poor, out-of-repair log-huts, with tiny windows, some roofed 
with boards, others with loose pieces of bark. Pigs, a foal 
or two, and a few children, miserably clad, were indis- 
criminately scattered on the " road." Kita * hung curing 
in the smoke of a fire kindled beneath, and bunches of 
withering green leaves by the hutside in the sun betokened 
tobacco drying. Women wandered about barefooted, and 
they and the men were in the scantiest of clothing, the 
latter in a cotton shirt and trousers, and the former simply 
in a frock and an extra bodice. It was always a matter 
of wonder to me how in autumn mornings and late after- 
noons they could stand the cold so miserably clothed. 

Each village has its overseer, who is a soldier. In 
rank he may be compared to a sergeant, but his duties are 
as varied as those of a prefect in France, or even a deputy- 
commissioner in India. Police, military, the census, agri- 
culture, and " roads," all these and more come within 
his cares ; and for this he is paid the magnificent sum of 
thirty rubles (three guineas) a month. Tracking escaped 
convicts was not the least important of his functions at 
Ado Tim, and he was away down the river on this 
errand when we arrived. Entering his hut at the head 
of the village we found seven soldiers ; including the 
two we had passed in the morning, who had arrived, hot 
and dusty, by the road which effected a short cut over the 
river route. 

The question of our night quarters had first to be 
* The East Siberian name for Salmo lagocephalus. 



SLAVO TO ADO TIM 139 

settled. The soldiers, somewhat impressed by my com- 
panion, who still wore on his chain the silver eagle of the 
Imperial cavalry regiment, to which he had in the old days 
belonged, offered us a share of their room. The prospect 
might not have troubled a Russian, but to sleep nine in a 
room of about 14 X 12 feet, with doors shut and windows 
shuttered, was not calculated to appeal to an Englishman. 
We were devouring some black bread and drinking a glass 
of tea while discussing the situation, when through a 
window we caught sight of the round, honest face of a 
woman, barefooted, driving a few cows into the village. 
Mr. X. called out in Russian fashion, " Maya tyotushka ! 
(My auntie !) will you give us some milk ? " When she 
had seen the cows home, she arrived with her hands full, 
carrying not only milk but butter. What did it matter 
that it was prolific of undissolved salt crystals, like a section 
of conglomerate clay with fragments of imbedded quartz ? 
For us it was a welcome luxury in our slender larder for 
days. While she was weighing out the salt crystal butter 
on primitive scales, consisting of a tiny thin rod of iron 
poised by a piece of string, the loop being shifted along 
the bar to determine the exact measure, I stood watching 
her jolly face, and it suddenly occurred to me that she 
might help us out of our difficulty of obtaining a night's 
lodging. I had just mentioned the matter to Mr. X., 
when our attention was called off to the natives, who were 
still lingering around the door of the hut demanding a 
prohibitive price for the journey to the sea. We resumed 
the discussion, but they would abate nothing, and evidently 
were not keen on going. 

Moving on as we talked to the middle of the village, a 
crowd gathered around us, a motley group of Gilyaks, men 
and children, pigtailed and unwashed, and of Russian 
convicts for the most part of a low, brutal type. We had 
been warned to be on the alert with these villagers, and as 
I stood an onlooker of the scene, while my interpreter 



140 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

talked with them, I involuntarily found my attention 
drawn to two or three suspiciously cruel-looking loungers 
on the outskirts of the crowd, some of whom wore ugly- 
looking knives at their belts. 

It appeared from the talk that there was a flat-bottomed 
semi-boat, semi-punt, down at the river, which belonged to 
the Crown. His Imperial Majesty the Tsar is probably 
not aware of the fact, and whether he would have objected 
or not, the men of the village had no scruples in offering to 
take us in it. One black-haired, dark visaged individual, 
a Little Russian * obviously, with a pleasant expression, 
inviting yet at the same time repelling our confidence, 
a doubtful face, offered with four others to take us to the 
sea and back in an impossible time for a reasonable sum. 
It seemed a way out of our difficulty, but I had my doubts 
about the prudence of trusting our lives day and night 
to five strange convicts from this penal settlement of ill- 
repute. 

In our difficulties we turned to our newly adopted 
" aunt," in front of whose log-hut we were then standing. 
A long discussion ensued. She said that " it is difficult to 
know what to do for the best. There are awful characters 
in the place, who will simply take the first opportunity of 
murdering you for your stores." She and her husband would 
long ago have been killed, for it was known that they had 
saved a little, had it not been for their fierce watch-dog. 
Anyhow, what she should say was this, " take two of them — 
you are two and well-armed, and would be a match for 
them — yes, take two of them, but don't let them go far 
with you — get Gilyaks as soon as you can — for these men 
(convicts) capsized Mr. K. (a Russian prospector) in the 
rapids. They don't know the river as do the natives." 

We thanked her, but asked did she know anything 
about this Little Russian, personally ? 

* Little Russia is that portion of south-western European Russia 
which lies around Kiev. 




A Sakhalin murderess. [To face page 141. 



SLAVO TO ADO TIM 141 

Well, she wasn't sure — of course she knew him — but 
she would ask her man, and would tell the other to come 
at 6 o'clock in the morning. 

More and more impressed with her jolly face, and not 
disappointed with her partner, who appeared to be quiet 
and respectable, we decided to ask the shelter of their 
roof. Sending word of our decision to the soldiers, they 
brought round our baggage, and also a message, delivered 
aside to Mr. X., that " it was hardly safe to trust ourselves 
where we were, for we might be robbed in the night." 

What had been the crimes of this woman and her man 
I do not know, but the law provides that any female 
criminal under forty, whose sentence is not less than two 
years, may be sent from Russia to Sakhalin. On arrival 
at Alexandrovsk they are placed altogether in the kamera 
at the south-east corner of the prison buildings. I have 
often seen them — those of them that had been retained by 
the officials, nominally for cleaning and sewing purposes, 
I say nominally, because the real purpose was openly 
known ; the others, chosen by " exile-settlers," who are 
allowed thus to take a helpmate, are released from con- 
finement within barracks, and live with their " men," though 
they are still obliged to do their hard-labour task. 

There is no marriage ceremony. The choice being 
made with the sanction of the nachalnik of the okrug, 
their names are written in a book, and henceforth the 
couple dwell together. A policy such as this, which 
violates our notions of the sacredness of the marriage tie, 
and directly encourages a criminal breed, must be regarded 
in the light of an attempt on the part of the Government 
to settle and colonize Sakhalin. A previous scheme had 
been tried, and failed. In 1862, and again in 1869, a few 
free colonists had been sent to the island, but they all 
ultimately left for a less lonely and arduous life. 

By settling the exiles down with partners in life and 
families, the Government also hoped to avoid the letting loose 



142 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

of large numbers of ex-convicts of Sakhalin on the main- 
land. That might again have raised the expressed dislike of 
the Siberians, particularly the Russians of Western Siberia, 
to their land being over-run with the worst characters. 
The cry is one that we are familiar with in the history of 
our Australian Colonies. It became really importunate in 
Russia in the late eighties. Brodyagi — passportless vaga- 
bonds — had been despatched wholesale across the border 
into Siberia, and the country was over-run with escap- 
ing members of this fraternity. On this subject, A. 
Leroy-Beaulieu, quoting official figures, says, " ... on 
January I, 1876, over 51,000 persons were entered on the 
registers of the government of Tobolsk as penal colonists, 
and only 34,000 could be produced by the local adminis- 
tration. . . . These figures, together with the carelessness 
of the local authorities, bear witness to the inefficiency of 
the system. ... In the 'governments' of Tomsk and 
Yeniseisk, in 1883, there were, out of 20,000 exiles (all 
classes exiled, not merely ' exile-settlers ') registered in 
different communes, only 2600 actually residing in the 
places assigned them ; over 17,000 were fugitives." That 
this state of things has improved with the advancing 
settlement of the country is true, though let not the reader 
think for a moment that the brodyaga fraternity fails to 
number its thousands to-day. Irkutsk which competes 
with Tomsk for the title of premier city of Siberia, like 
London, attracts large numbers of that profession generally 
dubbed the " light-fingered." This is a misnomer for the 
Siberian members. Hard life in the taiga does not conduce 
to delicate fingering, and the murder of their victim is a 
sine qud non in the pursuit of the profession. It is said 
that two murders in the nucleus of the city, and fourteen 
in the outskirts, is the weekly average of Irkutsk. And 
daylight or publicity are not shunned either, for just 
previous to my visit two had taken place in the high street 
in the daytime. 



SLAVO TO ADO TIM 143 

Security of life and property spell for the Exchequer 
greater potential receipts, and this was another reason why 
the importunities of the Siberians should be listened to. 
Hence it was that in 1888, Mr. Galkin Vrassky, afterwards 
head of the general prison administration, recommended 
that all brodyagi should be sent, not to the Siberian 
mainland, but to the island of Sakhalin, where, escaping 
from control, they could do little harm at large in the 
taiga, while the sea and ice would be effective prison walls. 
This was tantamount to a declaration that in future 
Siberia was to be first and foremost a colony, while the 
convicts must be more and more confined to restricted 
areas. This policy has culminated in the ukaz of 1900, 
which nominally abolished deportation from January 1, 
1902 (O.S.). 

The attempt to settle free colonists on Sakhalin having 
failed, what has been the result of the second method of 
" civil marriage " ? On the whole, even the officials, I 
think, would admit it to be a failure. 

That the couples remain is true, but it is because they 
cannot get away, and are practically forced exiles ; the 
majority, regarding the land as their prison-island, strive 
no more than is necessary to gain a bare existence. How 
those few bright exceptions to this crushed, energyless 
majority long to put an end to their exile, was brought 
home to me when, returning from Arkovo, where we had 
supped with the farmer who was "passing rich" as the 
owner of three cows, I remarked to my companion, " I 
suppose an exile-settler, such as he, who has been here 
fifteen years, has a wife and children, and is doing well, 
very well as Sakhalin standards are, is quite content to 
live here ? " 

" Why ! " he replied, " he only asked me just now, ' Did I 
think there was any hope of his getting away back home 
to Russia ? ' " With the second generation, it is possible, 
this may not be so. 



144 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

There are other results that have to be taken into 
account, and which ought to give the Government pause. 
In the first place, the moral effect on the woman who is 
chosen as a mate, is, in the majority of cases, terrible; and 
in the second place, the offspring of such a union is convict 
by heredity and demoralized by environment. 

On this subject, Mr. Zhook, quoting Mr. P. A. Salomon, 
who was Director-in-Chief of Russian Prisons from 1896, 
says, "The so-called concubines, i.e. the exiled women 
who are given to the settlers to help them, and for the 
mutual management of their households, consider them- 
selves as having the right freely to dispose of themselves ; 
and they leave their partners if the latter try to prevent 
them admitting outside visitors. Usually, however, this 
is not the case, as the co-habitants share all their earnings." 
Mr. Zhook adds, "Deprived of all civil rights, she loses 
by law the right to have a family ; but it is impossible 
to deprive her of the right to feel disgust towards the 
forced co-habitation ; and once she forsakes her ' master ' 
there is no other way open to her but to settle down with 
another one. This, indeed, is that ' hard labour ' to which 
criminal women are subjected." At the same time, it 
should be pointed out, that the women being in the 
minority,* the power to leave their " men " has a restrain- 
ing effect, and in the event of their doing so they have 
a choice, miserable as that may be. 

There is even a sadder aspect of this matter. It is 
the effect upon the free population, the wives of convicts 
who have joined them, but more especially the free-born 
children. All around them are openly vicious practices 

* The numbers of men and women on the island who had been 
sent out as convicts were, on January 1, 1898, respectively 19,770, and 
2397, or in round numbers in the proportion of 8 to 1. The ratio is 
reduced by the presence of 1308 women who followed their condemned 
husbands to the island. Only six men did this in the case of their 
wives being despatched to Sakhalin as criminals. 



SLAVO TO ADO TIM 145 

and scenes of unblushing prostitution. The very " game " 
of concubinage is in vogue in the mixed schools. To say 
that fathers traded with their daughters is to say little. 
I had great difficulty, I am not sure that I succeeded, in 
convincing a highly educated prisoner of rank, familiar 
with English literature, that fathers did not stand in the 
streets of London offering their daughters for sale. His 
experience on Sakhalin only confirmed some garbled reports 
of London life retailed by Russian papers. It would be 
impossible — and probably incredible to the reader — for 
me to mention the many terrible things I heard, but I 
feel it only due to the children of Sakhalin, if any reform 
is to be brought about, to quote a statement which I 
should not have dared to make myself, but which comes 
from one of unquestioned authority. What more awful 
charge against the officials and the criminal population 
can be made than in these words, " There is not a girl 
over nine years of age on the island who is a virgin." 

The question of heredity in crime is still engaging 
the attention of criminologists, but there is a growing 
opinion in favour of the enforced celibacy of the worst 
criminals. Mr. Geo. Griffith, in his vivid narrative of a 
visit to the French penal settlement of New Caledonia, 
speaks with no uncertain voice on this subject. After 
describing the courtship and marriage of convicts there, 
he shows us pictures of contented couples with prosperous 
homes; but he will not spare the truth, and adds, "The 
administration claimed success for it on the ground that 
none of the children of such marriages have ever been 
convicted of an offence against the law. Nevertheless, the 
Government have most wisely put a stop to this revolting 
parody on the most sacred of human institutions, and now 
wife-murderers may no longer marry prisoners or infan- 
ticides, with full liberty to reproduce their species and 
have them educated by the State, to afterwards take their 
place as free citizens of the colony. . . ." And later, 

L 



146 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

"When the boys (children of convicts) were lined up 
before us in the playground, I saw about seventy-six 
separate and distinct reasons for the abolition of convict 
marriages. On every face and form were stamped the 
unmistakable brands of criminality, imbecility, moral 
crookedness, and general degeneration, not all on each 
one, but there were none without some." 

The unwisdom of continuing the breed of criminals 
is, I believe, forcing itself on the minds of the Russian 
authorities, but in Russia reforms move slowly through 
the vast machinery of bureaucracy. 

The re-marriage, if so the civil contract can be called, 
of wives who have been deported to Sakhalin, depends on. 
their husbands remaining in Russia ; but since there were 
only six on the island who had followed their wives, the 
chance, therefore, of a wife on Sakhalin ever being joined 
by her husband is extremely small, as is her return to 
Russia ; hence the " civil marriage " or concubinage. In 
very many cases the deported wife has herself destroyed 
the chance by murdering her husband, for which crime 
she finds herself on Sakhalin. For out of the number 
of murderers on January I, 1898, then engaged in hard 
labour (2836 and there were probably three or more times 
this number if we include ex-convicts), 634 were women, 
most of whom had murdered their husbands. Strictly 
speaking, the priests on Sakhalin refuse to give the sanc- 
tion of a religious ceremony to such unions, unless a formal 
dissolution has been taken out by the innocent spouse left 
behind in Russia. 

Madame Gregoriev, our hostess at Ado Tim, was a 
rare exception to her class, and with her "better half," 
known far and wide, I afterwards learned, as honest and 
thrifty. She was equally far removed from the slow, time- 
is-no-object Russian. Her day began at dawn, and included 
the tending of the cows and work in the fields, as well as 
her domestic duties. At dusk the shutters were duly 



SLAVO TO ADO TIM 147 

barred for safety before attempting to light up. A rich 
feast of a platter of rice and milk was placed before 
my companion and myself, which we shared in primitive 
fashion. Conversation ranged from the news of the village, 
and the last brodyaga shot by the trackers, to the country 
of my origin ; after which our host, with true politeness, 
offered us their only bed ; but, refusing to disturb them, 
we elected to sleep on the floor. Hay was brought, our 
rugs spread, and we lay down with revolvers under our 
extemporized pillows, trusting that if an enemy came it 
might not be one of " our own household." 

Strange it seemed when one's thoughts did wing home- 
wards to England to be lying here on the floor of a 
hut, in the depths of the taiga, with two convicts whose 
crime for all we knew was murder, stranger still when the 
flickering light of a tallow candle showed two reverently 
bowed figures repeating inaudible prayers before the ikoni. 
Truly a picture for a Russian Millet ! 



CHAPTER IX 
ON THE RIVER TIM 

" Each facing our man with arms loaded" — A notorious thief and Ivan 
Dontremember — An ex-naval captain shot — A native's idea of 
measurement — A village possessing seven bears — Dug-outs in 
course of making. 

THE night passed without incident, and an early rise 
enabled us to interview our overnight acquaint- 
ance, the Little Russian, despatch breakfast, and 
make a start by 6.45 a.m. 

We finally arranged that our crew should consist of 
two men only, and that they were to paddle us down 
stream in the hope of our finding Gilyaks at one of their 
villages on the banks, who would be willing to take us to 
the coast. It was agreed that we should go a day's 
journey at least in the attempt, and if we failed by sunset 
— well — we left the future, a la Russe, to Providence. Our 
men were obliging, but they gave us to understand that 
they could only go a few hours down the river ; and made 
much of the many days the return journey would take 
them against stream. 

Once more we marched to the river bank, an imposing 
cavalcade including Madame Gregoriev herself, who in- 
sisted on carrying by no means the lightest of our many 
bundles. Here a curious phenomenon, which I have wit- 
nessed nowhere else, appeared. An arc of mist, rainbow- 
like but white, dense and broad, rose and fell in the river, 
with a chord, as well as I could judge, of about one to 

148 



ON THE RIVER TIM 149 

one and a half miles. This was at 6.50 a.m., and in ten 
minutes it had disappeared before the sun's rays. I can 
only attribute the phenomenon to air currents, but how or 
why I am unable to explain. 

On the bank was our native crew of the previous day 
just setting off to track a bear up stream. A little lower 
down were some Russian villagers spearing salmon from 
the bank. A well-aimed thrust, followed by a moment or 
two of wriggling, while the thong-held hook gripped tight, 
and the great struggling, gleaming fish was on the bank. 
In less than five minutes another followed, and so on, for 
they were literally romping, splashing, swimming with 
dorsal fin above the surface, and cutting all sorts of mad 
capers in the river. 

Others ageing, as could be seen by their dirty colour, 
distorted jaws, and large hooked teeth, and exhausted by 
the long journey from the sea against the strong current, 
were pitifully gasping with gills above water, shortly to 
join their companions lying dead in numbers on the 
shoals. 

Bidding our hostess "Da svidaniya" (till we meet 
again), we took our seats, each facing our man with arms 
loaded. It was a nuisance to have to keep such a close 
watch on our oarsmen, but it was not unnatural that our 
arms and baggage should be a source of great temptation 
to them. 

The object of all those who escape from prison or from 
police surveillance is to get enough money or stores to 
enable them to escape from the island. Some successful 
attempts have been made to get away to Japan or America, 
but they are mostly matters of past history, and the priva- 
tions suffered have been almost greater than on their prison 
island. 

Mr. A. H. S. Landor mentions that the Ainus of Yezo 
told him of four Russians from Sakhalin, who escaped in 
an open boat and landed half-starved and unable to make 






150 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

themselves understood on the coast near Cape Soya ; and, 
he adds, that the natives told him of many dead bodies, 
probably of unfortunate convicts, washed ashore there. 

Many years ago a party of fugitives were picked up in 
the Pacific and landed in America ; and Mr. D., a Scotch- 
man, and partner in a Russian firm exporting beche-de- 
mer, etc., from South Sakhalin, whom I met in Vladivostok, 
gave me an account of his meeting them there and recog- 
nizing some who had worked for him. 

More commonly efforts are made by a gang to cross 
the narrowest part of the Straits of Tartary to the main- 
land between Capes Pogobi and Muraviev. It seems a 
terrible risk, and not worth the escape from confinement, 
to run the gauntlet of being tracked down or shot, or to 
die of starvation, cold, or shipwreck ; but as a doctor on 
the island said to me, so great is their longing to be 
free, that many of the prisoners would willingly exchange 
their hard fare and confinement "for two or three days' 
freedom and the breath of fresh air with the risk of being 
shot." 

Those in the kandalnaya turrna y or " chained prison," 
at Alexandrovsk, are kept in idleness, an idleness and 
ennui only relieved by surreptitious gambling. If they 
have no money or secret store of food, and there are extra- 
ordinary underground ways of possessing themselves of 
these, the Crown tools lent them to repair their boots will 
be staked, then their clothes, and finally their rations even 
to a month ahead. Should the gamester lose all these, he 
regards the last as a debt of honour, and he succeeds in 
paying it in a novel manner. In fact, it reflects a standard 
of honour that even Monte Carlo could not exceed. The 
loser is put into a cell, and with his own consent starved 
for every two days, and fed on the third, thus accumulating 
rations to his credit which are taken in payment of his 
debt. 

But even relieved by an occasional game of cards, the 



ON THE RIVER TIM 151 

ennui of years of confinement in idleness is terrible. Is it 
surprising that the prisoner feels anything is better than 
that ? With the spring comes the longing, increasing with 
the lengthening days, to breathe the air of freedom, to go 
where he pleases, and to rest where he chooses. The taiga 
matuskka — the dear mother taiga — is calling. Oh ! the 
passionate desire to stretch one's limbs full length on the 
sweet-smelling earth and listen to the rustling of the 
leaves, the music of the woods, the merry voice of stream 
and bird. Oh ! to live and die in the arms of " Mother 
Forest," free as the bird that cleaves the air with joyous 
wing. 

And so the risk is lost to sight in the passionate longing 
to be once more free ; but this is not all, for there is yet 
another chance for the poor brodyaga even if he be cap- 
tured. Should he escape being shot by the trackers, or if 
he give himself up voluntarily, as many do on the approach 
of winter, he will be flogged and once more imprisoned, 
but he may possibly get off with a diminution of his 
original sentence. It happens in this way. If identified, 
he will have his sentence lengthened by an addition ; but 
if he professes to have forgotten his name and family, and 
whence he comes, and he cannot be identified, there is 
nothing to be done but to sentence him as a brodyaga 
to four years' hard labour. On Sakhalin it is not so easy 
to outwit the authorities as in the vast region of the 
mainland, but should he succeed, this "Mr. Ivan Dont- 
remember " scores considerably. 

This was the story of the Little Russian now sitting 
face to face with me. It was truly astonishing to me 
how these men expanded when away from the officials. 
My interpreter, himself a convict, they regarded as one of 
themselves. Our " captain," as we called him, was a bright, 
intelligent individual, with a good fund of stories ; and 
obviously he would have been the life of our party, until 
such time as he chose to compass the death of it. According 



152 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

to his version, he was forty-seven years old, an "exile- 
settler," and his name was Marokin. Originally sentenced 
to twenty-two years' hard labour, he had succeeded in 
making his escape on the mainland. Captured at large, 
and recognized, five years were added to his sentence. Of 
this whole twenty-seven years he had done but one and a 
half before he again made a bid for freedom in Siberia. 
Yet again he was recaptured, but on this occasion he had 
forgotten his commune and his familiya imya (surname), 
and was therefore despatched to Sakhalin for four years. 
He could now chuckle over his success in outwitting the 
officials, having done but five and a half instead of twenty- 
seven years. All this and much more he told us ; and 
some days later we had his story corroborated by other 
convicts, old companions of his, whom we came upon — 
excepting in one particular. His name, they said, was not 
Marokin, but Grodiyanka, the famous thief of Kiev. 

The river, which was about one hundred to one 
hundred and fifty feet wide at Slavo, was broadening 
steadily as we descended. Shoals and rapids, however, still 
testified to its shallowness, and necessitated the use of 
paddles for yet two more days' journey. The pebbly 
bottomed rapids were shot safely, though not with the skill 
of the natives. Our boat, a cross between a boat and a 
punt, was a clumsier affair than the native dug-out canoe, 
and our men had only a nodding acquaintance with the 
river. It leaked out in the course of conversation that 
there was another reason why they were not anxious to 
take us far. They had no right to the Crown boat, and an 
official was expected who would require it. 

There had been a sad affair of brodyaga shooting down 
the river, and in accordance with regulations the prison 
doctor from Derbensk had to make a post-mortem. He 
was expected in our wake, and his only means of progress 
was the Crown boat which we, unofficial persons, were using. 
The picture of this doctor, kicking his heels and perhaps 



ON THE RIVER TIM 153 

portions of the anatomy of other people as well at Ado 
Tim, for a few days, did not harrow my feelings as much as 
might be expected, at least the kicking of his own person 
did not, since we had heard from the lips of the good 
wife of the ex-overseer at Derbensk the following story 
about him. It appears that the son of a comparatively 
well-to-do man, an ex-convict merchant, came to him to 
ask him to go to his father, who was very ill. The doctor 
refused point-blank. It was after 2 o'clock, and his 
official hours ceased then. The poor man offered him 
money, but to no purpose, and going home in despair 
found his father already dead. Our informant added that 
the doctor was certainly cruel, but that on this occasion, to 
do him justice, he was probably drunk. At any rate, one 
hopes that, long as are doctors' hours in this country, 
for the sake of us poor patients the medical profession 
will not form a trade union or join the early closing 
association. 

The story of the death of the brodyaga, which he was 
now on his way to investigate, or rather report on, for it was 
merely a formal proceeding, had been the chief topic of 
conversation at Ado Tim, the affair being recent, and the 
actors in the scene present. The story assumed different 
aspects with our various informants. According to the 
soldiers' tale, he had been caught beyond the mouth of the 
river on the north-east coast, and their overseer from Ado 
Tim had been despatched with two or three of their 
number to bring him back. It is several days' journey up 
the river, but they had scarcely gone two, when he made 
his escape, the soldiers having left him with the boatmen 
while they went off to shoot their dinner. The boatmen 
were themselves ex-convicts, in fact one was Grodiyanka 
(alias Marokin) himself, and they wouldn't put themselves 
in the way of an escape of a brodyaga, especially as he was 
a barin in their eyes ; for he had been a naval captain, so 
I learned later, and spoke French fluently. These men, 



154 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

therefore, left the boat, and were of course overcome with 
surprise on their return to find the prisoner flown ! Taking 
with him the bag of biscuits, or rather roasted pulled black 
bread, he fled into the forest. The soldiers, coming back, 
were naturally wroth, but they could do nothing at 
once, for tracking in this virgin forest and swamp-land is 
difficult and dangerous. How well-nigh impossible it is to 
find one's way in this dense Siberian taiga one realizes in 
tracking a bear. A Gilyak village was therefore sought, 
and natives and their dogs brought to track down the 
unfortunate ex-captain. The soldiers' version of the 
sequel was that, coming up with him, one of their number 
fell upon him and tried to make him captive, but the 
brodyaga, attempting to wrest the soldier's gun from him, 
was shot in self-defence by his would-be captor. " Then," 
they added, " the Gilyak tracker fired the fatal shot." 

Grodiyanka, however, said the shots were in the back, 
and he believed that the soldiers merely picked off the 
fugitive when they sighted him so as to save further 
trouble. Se non k vero> e ben trovato. Gilyaks, whom we 
afterwards met, said that Grodiyanka and his fellow- 
oarsmen had not only indirectly assisted the ex-captain 
to escape, but had stolen forty military cartridges from the 
overseer to give the prisoner. They added that the latter 
had built himself a wooden shelter, roofed with grass, and 
when the soldiers came upon him, knowing they would 
probably shoot him, he rushed out and embraced the 
nearest soldier, so that it was with difficulty he could get 
his gun free and shoot. The natives affirmed that the 
prisoner was shot in the breast. 

Four days later we passed the spot where the body 
lay and has since been interred, a lonely grave in the 
solitude of the primeval forest, one of so many hundreds 
of lone lost ones of whom few received this last act of 
fellow-man — a friendly covering of earth to protect them 
from the prowling beast or the eagles that hovered high 




A GILYAK TRACKER OF " BRODYAGI." 

[To face page 154. 



ON THE RIVER TIM 155 

over the scene of their death struggle. Outlawed and 
degraded, driven to the depths of cold unfeeling cruelty, 
did they remember in that hour their childhood's days and 
a mother's tender care ? Now no hand was there to smooth 
the aching brow or moisten the parched lips of the helpless 
one lost, alone in the vast forest — none save the taiga 
matushka herself ! 

The banks of the river were low for the most part, 
broken by the rise of an occasional limestone cliff of about 
thirty feet in height. Bending over from the tops of these, 
toppling headlong, halfway down or already lying prone 
in the water, were larches and birches ; while the stretches 
of low bank were thickly dotted with poplars and nut- 
trees ; and overhanging the river's edge were willows 
and alders, giving hiding-place to a bevy of ducks here 
and there. 

Though we had left behind the last Russian settlement 
at Ado Tim, three or four rude shelters were passed in the 
course of the morning, which were occupied during the 
spawning season by a few Russian " exile-settlers " for the 
catching and salting down of salmon against the winter's 
needs. At a bend of the river we came upon one of these 
shelters, and five men dragging a seine-net, about two 
hundred feet long, which contained one hundred or so of 
plunging and splashing fata. At another of these rude 
huts, which housed a solitary Russian and some barrels of 
salt and dried grass, we stopped to discuss our midday 
meal — a duck we had shot during the morning. Our men 
behaved very well, and though the keen edge of our dis- 
trust was wearing off, we did not look forward to spend- 
ing a night with them or to the prospect of night watches. 

Occasionally we came upon a Gilyak village, consisting 
of half a dozen huts or so, and at each one hailed any 
visible member of the community, inquiring if there were 
not men who would take us ; but they all with one accord 
made excuses. Either the able-bodied were away fishing, 



156 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

or the only person available was ill or had no safe canoe ; 
and so our hopes of a native crew, and even of the prosecu- 
tion of our journey, were growing ominously less, when 
about 4 o'clock we espied a native canoe paddled by a 
single Gilyak arrayed in all the glory of mocassins, pigtail, 
and Manchu hat. We hailed him, asking — 

"Will you take us to the mouth of the river and 
back?" 
"No." 

" We will give you twenty rubles." 
" No, I must catch fish for the winter stores." 
"Yes, but if we give you money you can buy stores." 
This shaft of logic winged its way, for it produced some 
slight hesitation on his part, and his canoe was edged a 
little nearer to ours. We were not brodyagi, or " exile- 
settlers," evidently by our quantities of baggage. But 
still — no — he was not at all keen for the business. There 
followed more eloquent persuasion on our part, and he 
relented so far as to offer to take us for thirty rubles, which 
after considerable haggling was reduced to twenty-five ; 
not an exorbitant sum for the eighteen days during which 
he and a companion were to be at our service, and on 
twelve of which they were to paddle, row, and punt us. 
This was the " market price," however, and though no 
perquisites had been part of the stipulation, the frequent 
request, " Will the ' princes ' give some gunpowder, brick- 
tea, sugar, or tobacco ? " was seldom refused. 

Our new acquaintance's name was Vanka,* and he 
must go down stream to the next village of Irr Kirr to 
fetch a companion, his cousin — how many times removed 
I am not in a position to state. The cousin's name was 
Armunka, that is as near to it as we could get in Russian. 
I am afraid we never really appreciated Armunka at 
his true social position — at least, not until we found him 

* This is really Russian nomenclature, Vanka being a diminutive 
of Ivan, as Bertie of Herbert. 



ON THE RIVER TIM 157 

half-drunk, and then we learnt his aristocratic claims. But 
that comes later in the story. Lashing the canoe to ours, 
we proceeded to descend the river to Irr Kirr. Time 
passed, and still we did not sight the village, and so we 
asked how far off it was. 
" Six bends of the river ! " 

There are bends and bends, and the information lacked 
something of definiteness, as the countryman's mile in 
England, or the peasant's stunde in Germany ; but after we 
had been assured more than once that there was but one 
bend more, we tried a different tack, and asked, " How 
many versts is it ? " 

" One," came the answer, and a little later, " Two ! " 
This mode of progression was, to say the least of it, not 
satisfactory, and we harked back to the beginning of the 
book of weights and measures. 

" How many sazhen* are there in a verst ? " 
" Thirty ! " And then he added triumphantly, " A verst 
is not long, but very narrow ! " 

And with this Euclidean definition we were fain to be 
content. It wanted yet an hour to sunset when we reached 
Irr Kirr. Here, with some relief, we dismissed our Rus- 
sians, who were undisguisedly delighted with a pay of 
twelve rubles, and picked up our fresh crew. 

Something has been already said of the Gilyaks as a 
race in Chapter VI. The illustrations will give the reader 
a better idea than any detailed description. I will, therefore, 
merely refer to a few points. The Gilyak is short of 
stature, about 5 feet 3 inches in height, spare of limb, and, 
though often wiry, scarcely robust. His women -folk 
scarcely exceed 4 feet 6 inches. His complexion is tawny, 
gipsy-like, but not yellow, and his hair, which he wears in 
a pigtail, is raven black. Altogether his features betoken 
a mixed race. Though he has the brachycephalic (round) 
head, the broad face, and high cheek-bones of the Mongol, 
* 1 sazhen — 7 feet, 500 sazh. = 1 verst. 



158 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

yet the slight brow ridges, big mouth, prominent lips, and 
flattened nasal bridge of the latter are considerably modified 
in his case. The majority of Gilyaks possess the hairless 
faces of the Mongol, and perhaps the exceptions who 
have bushy beards are descendants of Ainu and Gilyak 
ancestors. 

In summer they used to dress in fish-skins,* and in 
winter in seal- or dog-skins. Gradually Chinese cotton 
(ta-pu) has filtered in through Manchuria, and largely taken 
the place of fish-skins, though this material is still used for 
parts of the dress, especially of the Gilyak woman ; and 
when visiting a Gilyak headman I found a mat of salmon- 
skins, stitched together, spread in my honour. In winter 
the men wear coats of dog-skins, but the women favour 
seal-skin, the short bristly hair being less in the way in 
their domestic occupations. The men add to their coat 
in winter a short petticoat of seal-skin. In summer they 
go bare-footed, except on journeys when, as in winter, 
they use mocassins of seal-skin, the hair on the outside 
of the leg portion only. 

For underclothing, a ta-pu shirt, "shorts," and long 
gaiters, or spatter-dashes, like the Chinese, are worn by 
the men ; and by the women long gaiters only, and a 
shirt or two of cotton or fish-skin. The outer tunic of 
the Gilyak woman, or rather frock, for it possesses sleeves, 
has Chinese cash coins strung round the border, which 
reaches just below the knees. 

The Gilyaks are veritable children of the forest, finding 
their home, food, and gods therein. Cultivation of the 
soil is unknown to them, and they live mainly on fish and 
the flesh of beasts that fall to their snares. By bartering 
the skins of such animals they obtain tobacco, brick-tea, 
etc. They have both summer and winter dwellings, 

* Salmon {Salmo lagocephalus and S. proteus, which are known 
in Eastern Siberia as kita and gorbusha respectively). 




GILYAK WIFE AND MAIDEN, 



[To face page 158. 



ON THE RIVER TIM 159 

constructed of timber and bark, a full description of which 
I will leave until later. 

Vanka having found his cousin, a man of rather bigger 
build than himself, and informed him of our proposal, they 
declared themselves ready within a few minutes. So natural 
is it for these people to be wandering, so much at home 
are they on river and in forest, that scarcely any prepara- 
tion was necessary for this journey of nearly three weeks. 
It reminded me of a story of a friend's experience in the 
far west of Canada. He was on a survey party, and in 
the forest they came one day upon a solitary Indian, who 
had evidently strayed far from his home. They said, 
" Why, you are lost ! " " No," he replied, " me no lost, 
wigwam lost." 

Their preparations did not include P. and O. overland 
trunks or hat-cases, familiarly labelled " Not Wanted," but 
simply a seal's stomach filled with oil, a scraggy bit of 
dried fish, a few leaves of tobacco, an old double-barrelled 
fowling-piece, in a home-made seal-skin cover, a fish-spear, 
and an outer garment each — this was the sum total of 
their baggage. Established as before in our new craft, 
each of us sitting at the bottom of the canoe, and facing 
our men with the baggage in the centre between us, we 
set off once more to advance our journey by a few more 
versts before twilight compelled us to camp. 

How different, however, was our progress, and with 
what buoyancy we rode the surface of the now silvering 
waters of the broad river. Our craft was about twenty- 
five feet long and two and a half broad, light, keel-less ; and 
though easily capsized a racing craft in speed. More than 
once I came across one of these " dug-outs " in course of 
making. A suitable tree near the river edge is chosen, 
and cut down. This, and all the other work on it, is done 
by means of an axe, which the natives obtain either by 
bartering skins with the Russians, or, as at Pogobi, in part 
payment for boat made over to a gang of brodyagi. On 



160 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

the stump of the tree left is placed a tzakh — that is, a twig 
with whittled shavings adhering to the top such as the 
Ainus call an Inao. This, like the cross Q) stuck in 
the ground beside a house in course of building by the 
Russians, is to keep away the evil spirits, the daimones y 
which here haunt the forest, and especially the swampy 
regions. The bark is chipped off, and very little hewing and 
trimming suffices on the outside, as will be seen from the 
illustration opposite p. 252. The hollowing process follows, 
and about one-third or one-fourth of the circumference 
of the log is cut into, the remaining two-thirds or three- 
quarters forming the outer surface of the boat. When 
duly hollowed to a thickness at the gunwale of about an 
inch, a cross-section will thus give about three-quarters of 
the circumference of a circle. The sides or lips of the boat 
leaning to each other are then stretched outwards, by 
means of sticks placed crosswise inside, so that the sides 
may become vertical, and the final form of a cross-section 
of the boat be that of the letter (J. 

All the work is performed with a couple of hatchets, 
though I once saw among the Orotchon tribe a primitive 
plane. A thin rim is affixed to the gunwale, and at the 
bow and stern, which are often exactly similar, are short 
flat projections used in punting. When dried and stretched, 
two or three rungs keep the sides rigid. The whole 
process takes, under favourable circumstances, one month, 
but in w r inter two. 

In the management of them, their makers were as skilful 
as in their manufacture. They would stand at bow and stern 
of our frail craft, punting up stream, and not disturb its 
equilibrium one iota ; albeit they were so careful, that if I 
leaned over in shooting a duck or firing at a seal, or shifted 
my position a trifle, to ease cramped limbs, Vanka's sharp 
eye would detect it, and I should be called back to the 
status quo. 

The low limestone cliffs of the morning now gave way 



ON THE RIVER TIM 161 

to conglomerate resting on hardened argillaceous sand- 
stone, which, though not attractive for the practical purpose 
of a bed for weary limbs, offered an excellent illustration 
of simple geological action — the draining off of rain-water 
through a pervious bed at the line of junction with the 
impervious. From a ledge of the latter, midway in the 
low cliff, it was pouring as a miniature waterfall into the 
river below. So simple, so small a matter here, those 
who have moved among the victims of the famines know 
how terribly important a feature it is in India. What 
thousands, millions, of lives would have been spared were 
it not so. Unfortunately for famine-stricken Central India, 
this pervious stratum, in its case the famous "Dekkan 
trap," is in parts 6000 and possibly 10,000 feet thick. To 
bore is useless, for it is impossible to pump from that 
depth. Rivers cannot form, and therefore irrigation is 
impracticable. Tanks or lakes are a last resource, but 
enormously expensive and scarcely satisfactory. 

The yelping of sledge-dogs, and the smell from strings 
of fish drying in the sun, and just visible at the bend of 
the river, aroused us to the contemplation of another Gilyak 
village, if I may so dignify a collection of half a dozen 
huts with that name. Two unfinished canoes lay in their 
beds of fragrant chips ; and beyond, on the " floor " of the 
village, were women cleaning fish preparatory to stringing it. 

Huts of larch or pine planks, rectangular in shape, with 
obliquely sloping bark roofs, and doors about three feet 
high, a few similarly shaped but quite small erections on 
piles, for storing the winter provisions of dried fish, and 
three bear cages made up the village of Ukavo. 

Nevertheless, Ukavo was at the time of my visit a rich, 
or at least a potentially rich, village. The basis of its 
affluence present, or to come, was even more assured than 
that of the new township in Australia which, possessing 
400 inhabitants, a town hall, a telephone union, and a 
collection of galvanized-iron roofed cabins of unvarying 

M 



162 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

pattern, promised soon to throw Ballarat into the shade ! 
No mines, gold or otherwise, entered into the Gilyaks' 
calculation, but they possessed a far more important asset 
in the shape of seven bears. Such a form of wealth, or 
rather capital, may require some explanation, even to an 
economist. 

The object of the capture and feeding of the bear is the 
holding of a great yearly semi-religious festival, in which 
the slaughter of the beast plays the chief part. It is more 
probable, that in the older times a full-grown bear was 
captured just previous to the fete, and that to-day the letter 
rather than the spirit of the sacrifice is kept up by seizing 
cubs and rearing them for three or four years. The 
feeding is a matter of no difficulty, as will be seen when we 
come to the preparation of the Gilyak's winter stores. To 
the owner or capturer of the bear, the feast turns out a 
very profitable investment, for visitors from neighbouring 
villages flock in, and while necessaries are provided by the 
owner, luxuries are on sale, and bring him in a handsome 
profit. 

The animals are kept in stout log cages, adorned with a 
pine-branch at each corner. Wishing to see, and if possible 
to photograph one of the occupants, I desired the villagers 
to bring one out, or at least unroof him. There were, 
however, too few men-folk at home, and the adult bears 
were very fierce, as indeed we gathered from their move- 
ments and remarks within ; so two of the five little cubs 
were partially unroofed. The poor little orphans snarled, 
and shrank frightened into a corner, tumbling over one 
another, and trying in their terror to hide each beneath the 
other. Ere the month of January, 1905, is passed, or 
perhaps before, their spirits will have been released to 
carry messages to the great Pal ni vookh. 



CHAPTER X 
TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM 

" A departed spirit" — The big brown bear — Salmon for the spearing — 
Sun-dried fish — Eagle's wings to aid the flight of the soul of the 
murdered — We pass brodyagi encamped — I miss 5000 rubles — 
We join a bear in a seal hunt — A night in the swamps. 

RESUMING our journey again, we were still casting 
about for a low, level, sandy bed, and the twilight 
was fast gathering, when my attention was called 
from the terrestrial to the supernatural. From out of the 
now dark and gloomy forest came a half moan, half cry. 

It was uncanny beyond words. A cry from the un- 
known, a moan from the depths of undisturbed regions. 
Our Gilyaks ceased paddling, and we asked, " What is it ? 
It must be some animal. Perhaps it is in the claws of 
a bear." 

" Kaukray ! kaukray /* No! no! It is no animal. 
It is the shade of a dead man wandering in the forest." 

For the Gilyaks not only believe in a future world, but 
their conceptions really connote immortality. The mem- 
bers of their race on the mainland, who live on the banks 
of the Amur, hold that the spirit of the departed one 
reaches after several days' journey a great village in the 
centre of the earth called Mligk-vo, where life is much the 
same as on earth, with this difference, that there the hunt- 
ing and fishing are unstinted. In fact, it is the familiar 

* A Gilyak word, meaning " no " or " nothing." 

163 



1 64 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

"happy hunting ground" of the Indian. A distinction is 
made between those who die a natural and a violent death, 
for the spirits of the murdered and suicides fly to heaven 
{tld) direct, thus avoiding the long journey, and therefore 
not requiring food to be placed at their grave. How and 
in what Mligh-vo differs from tlo they cannot explain, but 
the differentiation marks their conception of the sacredness 
of the soul of the murdered or suicide. 

The Gilyaks of Sakhalin, being descendants of pioneers 
who long ago left the " Old country," are more free-think- 
ing than those of the elder clans on the Amur. Probably 
a closer intercourse and possibly intermarriages with the 
Ainus have also helped to modify their views. At any 
rate, one finds considerable divergence in practice from the 
old traditions, and many differences of custom and thought, 
not only between them and their Amur brethren, but be- 
tween the Tim and Tro * Gilyaks and their brethren on 
the west coast of the island. 

Vanka declared that the spirit of a good man went to 
the Great Spirit (to the East, where the sun rises), but that 
of a bad man into grass. Whether or not he was giving 
us the general conception of his tribe we could not make 
out. Some days later, in conversation with their Cham, or 
" medicine man," and some of the elders of the Tro 
Gilyaks, we were informed that " a good man's spirit goes 
into the ground into the middle of the earth (evidently to 
Mligh-vo) ; but a bad man's is disturbed, and drifts about 
like air round the huts of the village." 

The spirits of the deceased occasionally hold communi- 
cation with their earthly relations ; for, endowed with super- 
natural capacities, they can in moments of dulness pay 
visits to their kindred, give them useful counsel and warn 
them against unknown troubles. If they desire to show 

* The Tim Gilyaks are those living on the river Tim, while the 
Tro Gilyaks are settled at the mouth in the Bays of Ni, Nabil, and 
Chai. 



TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM 165 

themselves to any one they can ; but it is only given to 
man to see them in a state approaching death, i,e. in a 
dream. Talking on this subject to an old Gilyak, he said, 
" Spirits of the departed knock at the door sometimes. 
They come to warn us of some misfortune." 

" But," I asked, " how are you to know that it is the 
spirit of the deceased that knocks ? " 

" Why, of course, you call, and if there is no answer 
you know that it is a departed spirit, and then you must 
throw out some food." 

" Have you ever seen such ? " 

"No." 

The Ainus of Yezo have a similar belief in the earthly 
visits of the departed ones. Among them, according to 
the Rev. J. Batchelor, the terrestrial and celestial in- 
habitants mutually appear as ghosts, but to their fellows 
as substantial. 

The word ghosts is even too material a conception, for 
their presence cannot be detected by mortal sense. Only 
the dogs are able to apprehend their approach, and you 
may at once know of their proximity by the animals 
howling. 

The reader will smile, but the Gilyak would say, let 
him only hear and he may be converted from his ignorant 
unbelief. My conversion took place at the village of Dagi, 
on the Okhotsk coast, where my interpreter and I lay 
awake one night in the hut of an Orotchon. Perhaps the 
fact that we were ill with ptomaine poisoning may have 
predisposed us to thoughts of Mligh-vo. Certain it is that 
at about 2 a.m. a low howl began, echoed and varied by 
thirty or forty other members of the canine race, a low 
peculiar cry of pain growing into a long drawn-out wail, 
rising and swelling until at last it ended in almost a 
scream. An unholy, ill-omened proceeding which surely 
nought earthly could account for ! 

But to return to the river and our Gilyak oarsmen, the 



166 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

departed spirit on this occasion, with all due deference 
to their weighty traditions, was a snowy owl (Syrnium 
uralense). 

If spirits were already abroad it was high time for 
material bodies to retire, and another consideration in- 
duced us to choose our camp. Master Bruin regarded 
these sandy shoals as his particular preserves, which was 
clear from the number of his footprints we had already 
seen. It must be about the time of his rising, probably 
he was at his toilet at the moment preparatory to his 
night's fishing, and it behoved us if we wished to avoid 
legal disputes to take possession at once. Beaching our 
canoe at a pleasant, clean, sandy shoal, dry from the recent 
fall of the river, Vanka leapt out to take the omens, in 
other words, to note if there were signs of brodyagi in the 
near neighbourhood. 

Satisfied that there was nothing more than the foot- 
prints of Master Petz, who had been down to drink and 
fish during the previous night, we landed. The shoal was 
of considerable length, but narrowed to about twenty feet 
in depth by the willows, which formed here the van of the 
forest. Our natives ran into the taiga to cut down willow 
branches for our bed, and stakes for the tent and fire. 
The tent, which consisted of supports with a piece of 
canvas thrown over, was quickly erected and the fire lighted 
with marvellous despatch, we meanwhile unloading the 
canoe and spreading the rugs. One end of the open 
tabernacle, where our heads were to lie, was barricaded 
with our baggage, as we preferred, if Bruin's curiosity 
overcame his prudence, that he should be introduced to 
our feet first. These operations were not concluded with- 
out alarms and an occasional run for our guns, but neither 
bear nor brodyagi followed up the signals. 

The brown bear (Ursus arctos), in whose habitat we 
found ourselves, attains to a great size in Sakhalin, in fact 
he gets bigger the further east one goes from European 



TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM 167 

Russia. In colour he varies from black to brown, but the 
latter is the more common form. Writers have differed as 
to the attitude he adopts towards man. Dr. Schrenck, 
writing of the Amur and Sakhalin bears, speaks of their 
" bos artiges Naturell ; " while Mr. Sternberg, who was a 
political exile on Sakhalin for many years, has declared 
that they are " wenig aggressiver Natur und es ist nichts 
Ungewohnliches, in nachster Nahe weidender Heerden 
oder im Walde Beeren suchender Weiber Meister Petz 
umher wandeln zu sehen, ohne dass er die Einen oder die 
Anderen behelligt oder auch nur in Schrecken setzt." 

The truth appears to me to lie between these two 
statements. Should you come suddenly unawares upon 
the she bear with her young, a fatal blow from her paw or a 
final embrace will be yours. Even Mr. Sternberg admits 
that through hunger he "sometimes attacks the natives, 
and not seldom one of the latter is killed in the attack." 
On the other hand, it is true, that should Master Petz see 
you passing at some distance, and he be not in evil case, 
and you do not molest him, he may merely pursue his 
own course as even a satisfied lion or tiger will do. The 
taiga yields him abundance of berries, and the river quan- 
tities of fish, while — stolen fruits being sweet, even to 
bears — he will occasionally add to these a sable or hare 
caught in the snares of the Gilyaks. 

The Caucasian farmer, whose agricultural success I 
have already chronicled, told us many a story of the 
adventures of himself and his neighbours with the bears 
which roamed in the primeval forest around his village of 
Uskovo. He had known no less than seven men attacked 
and mauled by bears, but, he added, " the bear is, after all, 
cowardly, for not one of the men was killed ! " 

The farmer and " dairyman " of Sakhalin still labours 
under difficulties from which his English representative 
has been for centuries immune. One of these seven men 
belonging to Uskovo was driving his cows to pasture, and 



168 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

stopped on his way to make tea. Continuing again, he 
came suddenly upon his two cows lying dead, and stand- 
ing over one of them, which he had already half devoured, 
was a big bear, defiant and angry at being disturbed. 
The man was so taken aback, that he stood rooted to 
the spot, though a gun was in his hand ; but not so Bruin, 
who, leaving his prey with a growl of rage, fell upon the 
man, and before he could escape planted his great claws 
in his shoulder, making such holes that you could get 
several of your fingers into them. 

Among the Gilyaks the Chuff, as they call the bear 
on Sakhalin, plays the greatest role in the animal world. 
He is regarded with peculiar sentiments, and the beliefs 
and ceremonies which cluster around his sacrifice are 
unique and interesting. The natives are fully aware of 
the Cliuff's cunning, and regard him almost as a Gilyak, 
certainly as a competitor, and love to tell stories of his 
knowing ways. They describe how he will go a-fishing, 
by preference at night, but if by day, he will stand with 
his right paw held close to his breast lest the sun should 
cast a shadow on the water and frighten the fish; how 
he will get up on his hind-legs to fight, and parry a spear- 
thrust, or shield his heart from a shot, with his paw. 

After all, Bruin is very human in many of his ways, 
and the brotherly feeling of the Russian peasant towards 
him is expressed in the pet names they give him — Mishka 
and Master Petz. On the mainland one not infrequently 
comes across the cubs kept as pets. I have seen them 
housed in a kennel in a yard, and even tied up to the 
side of a shanty by the wayside, where the bystander 
might be seen trying to give a friendly pat before 
receiving a less amicable return. The Caucasian farmer 
of Uskovo once caught three cubs and put them in a big 
box in his yard. One day one of them succeeded in 
making his escape by gnawing through the wood. The 
alarm was immediately raised by the wife of the farmer, 



TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM 169 

but the men of the village were in the fields. The for- 
tunate cub, however, did not make off at once, but, seeing 
that his companions had not been able to follow him, 
went back to the box and literally "lent a hand just as 
a man would." Unfortunately number two was clumsy, 
or else too fat to squeeze through, and all his attempts 
were fruitless ; yet number one did not relax his efforts 
until the cries of the men, now fast nearing the court- 
yard, warned him to be off. Curiously enough, the little 
animal, on emerging from the yard, immediately made 
straight to the spot where he had been captured, and then 
disappeared into the taiga. 

As soon as our luxurious repast of boiled rice and 
cocoa was finished, the fire was allowed to die out, for, 
though a protection against prowling Master Bruin, it 
might prove an ally to more dangerous foes. By its 
light the brodyagi could have easily picked us off while 
remaining invisible themselves. 

The night passed without incident, and, awaking before 
sunrise, I found Vanka already abroad and in the act 
of throwing a burning faggot into the water, exclaiming, 
with childish delight as it smoked and steamed, "There 
goes a steamer." He had come into contact with Russians 
more than, perhaps, any other Gilyak that I met, with one 
exception, and had probably made a visit to the west 
coast, where he would have seen a steamer. His cousin 
was no such traveller, and knew only a dozen or so Russian 
words. As Vanka was preparing to put off alone in the 
canoe, I asked him, " Are you going to catch fish ? " There 
was no answer. I repeated my question. 

" Hush ! hush ! " he said, " it is as Tol ni vookh wishes. 
You must not say that, or I may catch none." Which 
reminded one of friends nearer home, who check one in 
the act of congratulating one's self on an escape from 
misfortune, with a full belief in the sinister effects conse- 
quent on such foolhardy boastfulness. 



170 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

The performance of our morning ablutions was to 
them a source of considerable interest and astonishment. 
They never went through such an extraordinary perform- 
ance. What could be the object of such rites? What 
occult motive could induce the two white men to go 
through with such an unpleasant function at 5.30 a.m. 
on an autumn morning ? Possibly the explanation was 
to be sought in ceremonial, or maybe we suffered from 
some foul disease ! 

Breakfast despatched, tent struck, and all the rolling 
up and stowing away of sacks, skins, etc., accomplished, 
an early start was made. The sun soon gained power, 
and a magnificently cloudless day smiled once more upon 
us. In vain we scanned the heavens for a cloud, and 
laughed in our sleeve in spite of Tol ni vookh, and statis- 
ticians or quoters of statistics, in far Europe, who should 
say that Sakhalin had only five days free from fog, cloud, 
or rain in the year. I had already seen five such days 
during the week I had spent on the island. 

How glorious to be floating ever onward into the 
unknown. Virgin forest to right and left, and ever a 
fresh vista with each bend of the river. Now it was low- 
lying banks bordered with sallow and willow backed by 
tall grass, that hid alike the distant, high-reaching hills 
and the low-stealing fox. Then it was a lovely quest- 
enticing creek, the home of the otter and the bear, spanned 
by many a fallen trunk and many a bridge of branches, 
the pathways of sables and martens. To creep and wade 
up these was a veritable Arabian Nights venture, for what 
habitants of the forest might one not meet, to say nothing 
of the glorious sky-pictures seen through the interlacing 
branches overhead ? 

At the next bend sandy cliffs hove in view, loftier now, 
for we were approaching the defile of the eastern spur 
of mountains, which ends southwards in Cape Patience. 
Birches and firs were overhanging the edge, or fallen 



TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM 171 

headlong with their topmost branches touching the water. 
Driftwood, caught by overhanging bushes or bowing trees, 
or arrested by a grassy island in mid-stream, lay piled up 
as if by some giant hand. 

Beside the tiny creeks a few tributaries were passed, 
but none of any importance. They bore names among 
the Gilyaks recording their value to the native hunter, 
e.g. Kuvi* many sables river ; Kuni, many fish and bears 
river ; Pilvisktiri and Kondzhbung-gangi, etc. 

Buoyantly speeding over the bosom of the water under 
a glorious September sun, and wrapt as we were in con- 
templation of the scene, the needs of the flesh had to be 
remembered, especially with the fate of the previous party 
of the Russian prospector and his escort fresh in mind. It 
was most desirable to husband, if possible, our small stock 
of provisions against the return journey. Vanka, there- 
fore, got out his long fish-spear {marikJi), and, balancing 
himself on the prow of the boat, skilfully lunged at passing 
salmon. His weapon, which is one of a kind used by 
many of the tribes of North-Eastern Siberia, was of a 
peculiar character. To the shaft, which was about four- 
teen feet long, a large iron hook was loosely fastened by 
a thong. Close to the end was also another thong, bound 
round three or four times, but just loosely enough to allow 
of the hook being temporarily slid into it, the " business " 
end free and pointing with the shaft. Ready now for 
action, the weapon was like a magnified letter b. On 
sighting the gleam in the limpid depths beneath, the 
skilful harpooner gives a rapid thrust, and the belly of 
the salmon is pierced. The action of piercing looses the 
hook from the threefold thong, and the struggles of the 
fish now only serve the hook, which is dangling from 
the first thong, to gain a firmer grip. 

The first lunge by Vanka proved unsuccessful, as a 
cry of " Kaukray " announced ; again a silvery gleam, and 
* i in the Gilyak tongue means river, as vo village. 



172 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

e 
a second attempt had happier results, for a kita of fifteen 

to twenty pounds was hauled in, splashing and somer- 
saulting. A blow on its head, and the fish lay dead ; 
whereupon our Gilyaks whipped out their knives, and, 
like the Red Queen in " Alice in Wonderland," " offed with 
its head/' and with teeth and knife devoured their tasty 
morsel raw, leaving nothing but the jaws. The natives 
regard the head of a salmon as a great delicacy, especially 
the cartilaginous parts, and in this they can claim kinship 
with the bear, for during the spawning-season Master Petz 
will come down to the river's edge, and in one night spoil 
a score of kita, devouring the heads, and throwing away 
the bodies. We preferred to keep up some of the habits 
of the civilization we had left behind, and waited until 
midday should give us pause to camp, and cook our share 
of the catch. 

Meanwhile, another village, Auk-vun-wauk by name, 
hove in sight, and, paddling in, we stepped gingerly from 
our unstable craft. Vanka insisted on accompanying me 
because of the crowd of yelping dogs, although the most 
savage were tied up to a pole underneath a hut built on 
piles. These animals are fierce towards strangers, and 
especially white men, although I believe it is on the whole 
true the world over, that, if you show no sign of fear, 
dogs may yelp and growl, but will stop short of actual 
attack. My present position reminded me of an incident 
in Southern China — a sahib obliged to appeal to a 
piccaninny for protection from a buffalo, whose discri- 
mination between the white man and the yellow is well 
known. 

These dogs are used by natives in hunting bears and 
in tracking brodyagi. In winter, harnessed to the sledges, 
they are not fed until the end of the journey, and are 
then much more dangerous to encounter. A scarcely less 
unpleasant experience than unexpectedly meeting a team 
of these hungry, savage creatures in winter, befell a 



TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM 



173 



traveller who, driving his own team, came upon a bear stirred 
by hunger to a premature sortie from his winter quarters. 
The dogs, spying him, and urged by instincts of the chase, 
swerved aside, and dashed between the trees after the 
beast. The luckless traveller clutched at the sides of the 
light sledge, hanging on as long as possible, instead of 
throwing himself off before he was tumbled out gunless 
in front of the bear. 




Striding through the crowd of yelping animals, we 
came upon an old Gilyak and his wife, who sat slicing 
and cleaning kita. With a long rakish knife, which is the 
men's hunting and " general-purposes" knife {dzhakho\ the 
fish was split open, and with a short-bladed and curved 
edition of the former — the woman's fish and domestic 
knife (imgu dzhakho) — the kita was cleaned. Two slices 
were then cut from each side, leaving for remainder the 
head and tail and backbone, with some flesh adhering. 





All these were then hung up to dry in the sun, this drying- 
ground being the "village green," or "market-place," of 
the Gilyaks. The slices were for human consumption, 
and woe betide the Gilyaks if August (O.S.), which is the 
chief season of fish-drying, prove a rainy month, for then 
only a small quantity of their staple food will be prepared 
against the winter, and stores will give out early, and 
many will die of starvation. Fortunately, sunny weather 



174 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

had this year attended their efforts, and goodly quantities 
of sun-dried fish were hanging in rows upon rows, to be 
eventually consigned to those strange-looking coffin erec- 
tions, consisting of a short log hollowed out and perched 
on forked stakes. These stakes were, in "well-regulated 
establishments," encircled with pieces of bark, umbrella- 
shaped, to prevent the ravages of rats and other vermin. 

The roe is regarded as a great delicacy, and was being 
scraped into interesting looking wooden vessels resembling 
a butcher's tray, which also serve to receive the blood 
from the slain bear at the great festival. On feast-days, 
such as at the beginning of the sable and seal hunts, which 
inaugurate a New Year (the Gilyaks having two years to 
our one), the roe is mixed and pounded with whortle- 
berries, etc., and made into a much appreciated mess. 
The tail and head-pieces of the kita are intended for the 
dogs and the bear, and the former came in for a few bits 
of fresh fish as perquisites while the operations were going 
on before us, though for the most part they feed them- 
selves in summer. Some of them were at the moment 
engaged in catching fish at the river's edge, one or two 
less particular than the others seizing a dead fish cast up 
on the shoals. 

We did no bartering here, Vanka having landed to beg 
or borrow some seal-oil, for apparently his stock of that 
great Gilyak delicacy, and (to us) horrible-smelling impedi- 
mentumy had run out. Our next stop was for the midday 
meal at a bank opposite a fine sandy cliff, crowned with 
larch-trees. Stepping out of the canoe, I espied some 
fresh footprints of Master Bruin, which our natives, with 
a discrimination remarkable to our untrained eyes, de- 
clared were those of a Ch'uff that we had disturbed fishing 
at the moment. Examining the tracks more closely, I 
was sorely tempted to spare one of my fast diminishing 
photograph films. The impression of the balls of the toes 
and the five claws in the sand was perfect, and to complete 



TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM 175 

all were the marks made by his claws as he slid involun- 
tarily into the water. 

Clambering up the bank, I found Vanka and Armunka 
had the slices of the salmon already grilling in front of a fire. 
Running into the forest, they had deftly cut and prepared 
two willow twigs, stripping off the leaves, and slitting them 
lengthwise. In each of these was inserted a slice of fish, 
extended by two cross-pieces, the slit-ends at the same 
time being bound up with the green rind. But it must 
be confessed that, though I admired their rapid methods in 
the culinary department, I had scarcely the same respect 
for our Gilyaks' other domestic ways. They occasionally 
assisted at washing up, but we thought it high time to 
reduce their share of it to the French interpretation of 
that word, when our spoons were " finished " off on their 
mocassins, on which they wiped their fishy and clayey 
hands. 

In the course of the afternoon we came to yet another 
Gilyak settlement, the last in fact before we reached the 
mouth of the river, some hundred miles distant. Here 
we were hailed in the Gilyak tongue. 

" Have the Lo-cha (Russians) any ' brick tea ' ? " 

" Yes. Have you any seal-skins ? " 

Stepping ashore, haggling began, and finally a seal-skin 
was obtained for a brick of tea,* some shot, and caps. 
These seal-skins were not from the fur seals (Callorhinus 
ursinus), but from the common hair seal (Phoca vitulina), 
and in some cases the banded seal (Histriophoca ftisciata). 
The fur seal has a thick, downy under-fur, which is what 
we are familiar with in caps and jackets after the longer 
and sparser hairs have been pulled out, a treatment more 
commonly known in connection with beaver skins. The 
hair seal has a bristly, silverish, straw-coloured skin, with 
dark-grey or black spots, and is commonly used on the 

* Weighing one kilogramme, and costing us at Alexandrovsk half 
a ruble, or, say, ^d. per lb. 



176 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

Continent for children's satchels. The fur seal is now very 
rare on Sakhalin, though in earlier years large numbers 
used to be caught off Robben Island, now known by its 
Russian name of Ostrova Tyuleniy, or Seal Island, and lying 
a little to the south of Cape Patience. The latter are 
quite common, and we met several ascending the river 
after the salmon. The great hunting-season is, however, 
the spring, and this begins the new or summer year among 
the Gilyaks. 

Again continuing our route, it was interesting to ob- 
serve that the cliffs were recurring much more frequently 
on the right bank than on the left of this northerly flowing 
river, which adds one more to the illustrations of Ferrel's 
law of the more rapid erosion of the right banks of rivers 
in the northern hemisphere, due to the rotation of the 
earth. The effect of this deflexion of the water is, of 
course, greater in these high latitudes than in low. 

Wild swans occasionally flew across high overhead, 
and a woodpecker could be heard tap-tapping the trees. 
Our natives eagerly asked us to shoot the eagles which 
soared aloft or settled on the top of a high tree, only to 
fly away as we approached within gunshot. These were 
the white-tailed eagles (Halietus albicillus), prized by the 
natives for their tail-feathers, for which they declared the 
Chinese gave them three dollars (about 6s.). The Japanese 
(in Yezo) are said to use them to indicate the residence 
of a person of importance by placing them over his door ; 
in any case, the Gilyaks themselves value the feathers, 
which they use for arrow-heads. The wings are also 
prized by them, being placed at the grave of a Gilyak who 
has been murdered or has committed suicide, to aid his 
soul in its flight to heaven. 

Having left all habitations behind us, even the last of 
these " children of the forest," the scenery grew ever wilder. 
The footprints of the bears increased ; already we had 
seen, since the morning, between thirty and forty. Once 



TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM 177 

or twice we passed a rude raft composed of a few pine- 
logs, roughly bound together, telling of brodyagi who were 
attempting to steal down the river by night ; or a few 
ashes on a shoal indicating their temporary camping-place ; 
but that afternoon we were to come to still closer quarters 
with them. At about half-past five we were keeping a 
look-out for a likely halting-place, when a thin column of 
smoke, just appearing above the trees on our right bank, 
warned us to be on the alert. Word was passed in a 
whisper to have guns ready, and, our natives paddling 
silently but quickly, we shot by unobserved — at least, 
we trusted so. The brodyagi had built their fire behind 
some willows a few feet from the bank, which screened 
their merrily crackling fire, but not the smoke, from our 
view. 

That evening we camped lower down the river, sepa- 
rated from our unpleasant neighbours by about two miles ; 
but we spent by no means an undisturbed night. The 
fire had been put out, and we had rolled ourselves up in 
rugs and placed our guns loaded by our sides, and re- 
volvers under our improvised pillows ; scarcely ten minutes 
had elapsed when the alarm was given by my interpreter. 
Sitting up, I listened ; but no sound was to be heard, and 
we lay down again. Once more I was roused, and this 
time I seized my gun and listened outside. Was it a 
bear ? No ; he thought he had heard the sound of a 
paddle above the bend there — probably the brodyagi whom 
we had passed. Our natives asked us to fire our revolvers. 
If it were bears they would be sufficiently scared, and if 
it were outlaws they would know we were on the qui vive. 
This we did ; but I was impatient of continued alarms, 
and decided to go on watch for half the night. Slipping 
on a skuba, or rather dokha* I planted myself, gun in hand, 
outside the tent. If the reader has been in a similar 

* A long coat reaching to the feet, lined with fur inside and 
outside, and especially suitable for sledging. 

N 



178 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

position, he will realize the eeriness of the situation. A 
pitch darkness enveloped everything, for it wanted but 
two or three days to the new moon, and the heavens 
were overcast with clouds which descended later in rain. 
Peering first in the direction of the forest, was that the 
sparkle of two glassy eyes I saw ? and, straining my ears 
towards the river, did I hear the light plash of an oar ? 
After an interval of reassuring silence, a strange sound 
would once more quicken my senses — the splash of a 
salmon or the far-off cry of a wild swan disturbed by 
some prowling beast. A light drizzle began and forced 
me to cover my rifle. At length the three hours (or 
was it three days ?) came to an end, and my companion 
relieved me. 

The dawn waked our natives, and the morning opened 
with sunshine after the night's showers. Our method of 
propulsion was altered this morning. We had got beyond 
the region of rapids, and were now on a full flowing river. 
A pair of native sculls, with a hole bored in the flat bulging 
part below the haft, were brought to light from the bottom 
of the boat. A minute or two sufficed to make rowlocks, 
from forked branches cut and trimmed and bound to the 
gunwale with seal thongs. Vanka used these sculls at the 
bow, rowing (not sculling) with them one after the other, 
while Armunka steered with a paddle in the stern. Bear 
footprints continued to be as common as on the previous 
day, our oarsmen delighting to point them out to me, at 
the same time making amusing attempts to mouth the 
English word " bear " — attempts which resulted in ba, Va, 
baa, and finally bar. With their intimate knowledge of 
Bruin, they would tell us that this one, whose footprints 
we saw, was here yesterday, that early this morning, and 
that, again, we had just disturbed. 

To the wild geese, ducks, swans, crows, and snipe of the 
swamps and the river was added to-day another inhabitant 
— the seal. A log — a great snag — lay in midstream a 




MAP BY D'ANVILLE, 1737. BY THE " ISLE DU FL(EUVE) NOIR," IS MEANT 

SAKHALIN. 

[ To face page 98. 



TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM 179 

couple of hundred yards ahead, where the river swept 
round a sandy beach. Vanka began to load up, and I 
wondered what was now in progress. Drifting silently on, 
I could just make out a sleeping, almost shapeless, mass 
lying upon the log. At that distance it was impossible to 
distinguish the head from the tail. A loud report from 
Vanka's and my companion's rifles — for they had fired 
together — a plash, and their prey had Escaped They 
had missed, which was not surprising considering the 
instability of the canoe. 

The meeting with yet another denizen of these parts 
that day has been a source of congratulation and com- 
miseration on the part of my friends ever since — congratu- 
lation that I was allowed to see it, and commiseration that 
I did not shoot it. We had arrived at a part of the river 
where the banks, rising about ten feet above the water, 
were covered, as was the adjoining land, with tall rushes 
and long grass about six feet in height. Gazing carelessly 
at the bank, I espied a head peeping out of the long grass, 
and called to my interpreter and the natives in a low voice, 
" Malenkiy medvyet!" (A little bear!). Seeing nothing, 
they smiled ; but on my reiterating and pointing, Vanka 
caught sight of it, and called to me, " Nyet stryelyay ! 
Gilyakskiy sabaka " (Don't shoot ; it is a Gilyak dog). Now, 
occasionally we had seen a native dog sitting alone at a 
distance from a village, fishing or waiting for his master, 
and we therefore hesitated ; but before we had realized 
the mistake the animal had got up and trotted off, 
disappearing into the tall rushes and grass, giving us, 
however, one clear view of a beautiful coal-black fox 
with a white tip to his great brush. Even as he dis- 
appeared, Vanka was calling to us, " Nyet stryelyay ! Nyet 
stryelyay ! Pal ni vookh budet serditiy " (Don't shoot ! 
Don't shoot ! The god of the mountains will be angry), 
and much more as to the fate the lord of this region 
would have in store for us should we cross his will. I 



180 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

went ashore, but it was hopeless to expect to come up 
with the animal. 

According to Vanka, if we had killed it, its brethren 
would have been informed, and when we set out for the 
winter's hunt they would have banded together to kill us. 
If Vanka was really sincere, I think it far more likely 
that he feared lest his winter's hunt should suffer, because, 
by killing thus in a haphazard fashion, it had not been 
inaugurated with the usual ceremonies. To seize of the 
provision of the great Pal ni vookh (he is lord of the 
forest and all therein) before acknowledging in due form 
his sovereignty and bounty, was to risk bringing down his 
wrath upon our heads. But yet I have strong doubts as 
to Vanka's sincerity. He was very faithful to us, yet the 
possibility of getting 200 rubles in the next few months 
was a consideration which few Gilyaks or Russians 
would have hesitated to risk by truth-telling. We 
taxed him afterwards with this, but he still stood to his 
guns. 

Many weeks later, when at Vladivostok, Mr. S., a 
partner in an English firm who have large dealings in furs, 
told me that the last skin of this description had sold for 
5000 rubles (£536). Several varieties of foxes, including 
the common species, the red, the silver-black, and the 
black, are found on the island. All are larger than their 
English brother, and possess very fine brushes. 

For some time we had been keeping a look-out in vain 
for a sandy reach whereon to camp. They had grown 
scarcer, the river being more constant here, and the banks 
being low and grassy. Our custom was to stop while 
there was light enough to plunge into the forest, cut our 
tent-stakes and fuel, and get our shelter up. But on this 
occasion the stars began to peep, the banks to grow dim 
and indistinct, and the trees to loom black and threatening 
before we sighted a big, curved, sandy beach. We hailed 
it with delight, for how infinitely preferable a bed it 



TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM 181 

makes to a hummocky clearing in a forest. And in the 
morning, in tramping round, one appreciates the dry, hard 
sand instead of the wet grass and the weakly penetrating 
sun-rays obscured by interlacing thickets. But even as 
we were about to reach the boat an angry growling and 
snarling were heard. Had it been daytime, here had been 
our chance for a hunt, but even the natives do not attempt 
a night attack. We had camped before on Bruin's private 
preserves, but never when he was in actual possession. 
Quietly our natives paddled round the curving reach, the 
growling and snarling growing louder and louder. They 
suggested the high grassy bank on the right as an alterna- 
tive camping-ground, but I was too enamoured of a sandy 
bed to acquiesce, so they paddled on, the oars being dis- 
carded for the occasion. Then preparations were made 
for action. The double-barrelled gun was passed forward 
to Armunka, a redoubtable hunter, as we learnt afterwards. 
He loaded, and knelt in the boat, rifle in hand ; I did 
likewise, wondering "what was to do next," as my in- 
terpreter said, in copying us. The noises had now 
assumed a different note, a most weird mixture of growl 
and howl and wail, at times a half-human cry, quite 
unlike a bear's. The darkness thickened ; we could but 
dimly descry the nearer bank. Suddenly Armunka rose 
to full height in the prow, took aim into the darkness, I 
watching and wondering, for I could perceive nought. 
Then arose a shriek, followed by a great plunge. I 
could dimly make out a rising column of water, and im- 
mediately we were swept along with a rush by the swift 
and rapid strokes of the two paddles, in hot pursuit of a 
pair of seals ! The snarling and growling had proceeded 
from the bear, who, in unconscious co-operation with us, 
was pursuing the seals as they emitted their strange 
amatory cries. As we neared the latter, Bruin had ceased 
to growl, though just before Armunka fired I had 
caught the cry of wild swans disturbed by the bear, 



1 82 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

and his plash — plash — plash as he prowled along the 
left bank. 

Another camping-ground was found a mile or two 
further on, where we spent the night unmolested, though 
not without alarms. The clouds had been gathering since 
the previous night, and the following morning opened wet. 
Despite all our efforts to cover our baggage and ourselves, 
a couple of hours in an open canoe in pouring rain left 
us wet and sitting in water. If it had been delightful 
beyond words to float on the bosom of the broad river into 
the unknown, with a clear sky and brilliant sun, it was most 
miserable and wretched to sit stiff and wet in the bottom 
of a canoe with no hope of shelter but the forest, with its 
dank grass underfoot and tree-droppings overhead. How- 
ever, we held on our way until midday, when we disem- 
barked, and dragging our baggage up the bank, scattered 
it on the wet grass, for there was not a dry spot to be 
found. This done, our natives at length accomplished the 
apparently impossible, and coaxed a fire to light. While 
we were yet stamping around, cold and stiff, trying to 
rejoice in the potentialities of a fire, a slight noise was 
heard from the river. It was forty-eight hours since we 
had seen any human being, and, picking up our guns, we 
ran to the edge of the bank, to find a canoe, well-laden, 
and manned by two Gilyaks, shoot under the bank. This 
was followed by two more, containing some Kazaks, Mr. 
S., the Chief of the Timovsk District, and Mr. von 
Friken, the Inspector of Forests and Agriculture from 
Alexandrovsk. 

Explanations had to be made by my interpreter, as 
I was in the position of a brodyaga discovered by the 
nachalnik in his own okrug without a passport. We had 
heard from the natives of their journey, and it appeared 
that they had, for the first time in their long abode on 
the island, decided to descend the Tim to make per- 
sonal acquaintanceship with the district in their charge, 



TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM 183 

and to visit the engineers who were at the recently dis- 
covered petroleum lake. They were very polite, and shared 
with us a wild goose shot by one of the soldiers. Mr. von 
Friken was especially friendly, and, speaking in French, 
he gave me the benefit of his observations of the tribes 
of the island, having, in the course of his duties, parcouru 
over a large portion of South Sakhalin. Stationed for 
several years at Korsakovsk, he had moved recently to 
Alexandrovsk, where he politely invited me to call upon 
him, as did also the Chief, at his residence at Rikovsk. 
Mr. von F., I found educated, friendly, and courteous, and 
an exception among the Sakhalin officials ; in fact, his 
office was a special one, partaking rather of the nature 
of a scientific than an administrative one. With military 
despatch their retinue repacked, and our new acquaintances, 
with a " Da svidaniya" were gone. 

It was still raining steadily, but we now felt ready for 
a fresh start, and embarked without delay to continue the 
descent of the river. The Tim was getting broader, 
averaging now about 300 or 400 feet in width, the sandy 
reaches had disappeared, and the level of the land was 
growing lower and the forest more broken. With the 
diminution of timber, bears and their tracks began to 
disappear also. That evening we were compelled to camp 
in a thicket, a performance no less uncomfortable than our 
midday halt. 

On one advantage we congratulated ourselves, viz., our 
natives were more than usually tractable. Once or twice 
there had been slight friction, but an incident had occurred, 
unknown to me, which had settled all that. It appears 
that my nationality had puzzled them. They knew the 
Russians, but this stranger spoke another language. 
Possibly this racial difference accounted for my proclivity 
for washing ; but, anyhow, what was I ? I travelled with 
much baggage and many stores. Was I a great prince 
among my own people? "Yes!" was the unblushing 



1 84 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

answer of my interpreter. Henceforth all our difficulties 
were at an end, at least as far as Vanka was concerned. 
After that the request became quite familiar, " Would the 
princes give some gunpowder ? " 

The night was an uncomfortably wet one, and the 
next morning we looked forward to ending our river 
journey and reaching a native village in the bay, where 
we could get shelter from the elements and dry our now 
sodden baggage. Our natives reported that it was but 
half a day's journey to the mouth ; but they had reckoned 
without the wind. A storm swept up the river from the 
Okhotsk Sea, and it was madness to attempt to ride the 
bay when our canoe even shipped water in the river. 
Loth as we were to camp in this dreary, shelterless spot, 
it must be done. No forest was here — that had been left 
behind — nothing but low-lying swamp, the tundra of the 
north. Cold, wet, and hungry, we scrambled ashore, found 
a piece of firm ground — an island in the midst of marshes — 
stamped down the long wet grass, and proceeded to 
search for fuel. Some rotting driftwood rewarded our 
hunt, and, happily, a log left by a flood gave us a little 
shelter from the wind, which swept in from the sea. 

With the bears had gone also the wild ducks, and our 
larder had not been replenished for two days. Armunka 
was therefore sent over to the right bank to shoot, if 
possible, some form of flesh. It was of no use to fire at 
an occasional flock of wild geese, for our quarry was 
nearly certain to fall in un-get-at-able swamps. Fortu- 
nately, Armunka was more successful, and brought back 
a solitary wild duck, which, however, shrank remarkably 
in the roasting, at least in the opinion of two hungry 
men. 

In vain, before retiring, we tried to dry our sodden 
rugs, only succeeding, beyond our best hopes, in filling our 
eyes with smoke. The sun went down in a wild sky 
amid clouds of angry red ; the distant roar of the wild 



TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM 185 

breakers of the Okhotsk Sea boomed in our ears, bringing 
no sense of peace, nought but a feeling of cold and storm. 
Crouched under our open shelter, we slept between the 
intervals of trying to avoid the tricklings of rain through 
our canvas roof. 



CHAPTER XI 
IN THE BAY OF NI 

A curious coast-line — Gilyak huts and their origin — An interior— 
" Give something to the god " — The great bear fete — A unique 
band and artiste — The Cham's adjuration — The bear not a pious 
Gilyak — Signification of the festival. 

IT was yet dark, 3.30 a.m., when I heard noises pro- 
ceeding from Vanka. He declared that he was sing- 
ing. It was not an occasion on which to discuss 
the point, or to state the laws of harmony as understood 
in the West, so I kept silence ; and, feeling most un- 
comfortably wet from rain-drippings, lay still and watched 
his preparations for a fire. This done, he directed his 
superfluous energy upon us, urging the necessity of starting 
early, before the wind, awaking with the sun, roused the 
waves in the bay to action. So we " stood up," as my 
interpreter rather literally translated the Russian word, 
which, however, accurately described our morning toilet. 

A frugal breakfast by the light of a fire, a hurried 
packing of wet baggage, and we were slipping down the 
last league of our river journey. At the mouth is a 
delta, but our oarsmen knew the river " as their five fingers,' ' 
and piloted us unerringly by the deep channel to the Bay 
of Ni, into which the river Tim empties. This bay and 
the whole coast-line for many miles are of such curious 
formation that a word or two of description will be 
necessary to render clear my further journeyings. 

Reference was casually made in Chapter VI., in dwelling 

186 



IN THE BAY OF NI 187 

on the geological aspect of the island, to its gradual 
emergence in current geological time. This is the central 
fact which explains the formation of the lagoon-studded 
coast in the north-east and south-west of the island. 

On our left, as we entered the bay travelling north- 
ward, was a low-lying swampy shore — tundra, as it is 
called in Siberia ; and on our right stretched a sand dune, 
varying in width from a few yards to a verst or more, and 
keeping parallel with the coast-line. This formation ex- 
tended northwards for 100 miles or more, for no white man 
had penetrated beyond about 80 miles, and the natives 
could only retail hearsay concerning the " beyond." From 
the mouth of the Tim, the Bay of Ni extended for about 
20 miles northward, then narrowed to a passage-way, 
which opened out into the Bay of Chai, beyond which 
no names had been given to the yet unexplored bays. 
This wall of protecting sand-dune was pierced by three 
narrow straits, giving access to the sea, in the course of 
the 80 miles. 

The coast-line on our left represented the prehistoric 
shore, and the terrace above it the original sea-level. 
The sand-dunes, due to deposition by the alluvium-laden 
waters of the Tim flowing north, checked by the Okhotsk 
cold current flowing south, had found their way above 
the surface of the water in the course of the gradual 
emergence of the island already referred to. From that 
time seeds carried by wind or bird had been deposited, 
and the growth of coarse grass, Swiss pine (Pinus 
cembra pumila), and even wild rose {Rosa rugosa) had 
helped to bind the sand and establish these long sandy 
islets. 

From the delta of the Tim we made across the bay 
in a north-easterly direction to a cluster of huts on the 
inner side of the dune. The wind was already making 
itself felt ; our light craft rocked, and the morning air 
struck cold on our damp clothes. The villages of Nivo 



188 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

(the first, for there are two) and Kamavo, with their bear- 
cages adorned with pine branches, stood out prominently 
on the sandy level, and a crowd of dogs, barking and 
splashing, stopped their fishing to show resentment at 
the appearance of strangers. A verst or two beyond 
Kamavo our boat was beached, where stood a tent, and 
as we waded ashore we were accosted by two or three 
Kazaks, who led us into the presence of a Russian police 
officer. 

It was a strange, out-of-the-way place to be stationed 
at, and only exceptional circumstances accounted for his 
practical banishment to this far-away spot. Japanese 
schooners, of the adventuring junk class, from the island 
of Yezo, had been wont to come up here to the mouth of 
the Tim to barter rice, kettles and cauldrons, rifles, ear- 
rings, etc., for furs, and to fish and salt salmon during the 
spawning season. This had been going on here certainly 
since 1868, when a scramble was made by Japanese and 
Russians for unoccupied spots, and probably from long 
before that, but this year a Russian vessel or vessels 
had been expected to visit the bay, and for fear of any 
disturbance, or connivance with escaped convicts, this 
officer had been despatched hither in July. It was now 
September ; no Russian vessel had appeared, and he was 
preparing to end his exile and take his departure in a 
couple of days. 

Delighted to meet arrivals from the outer world, he 
overloaded us with hospitality, drew for us a rough chart 
of the bay, and eagerly devoured our news. From him 
we heard more details of the story of the ex-captain and 
brodyaga> whose untimely death the officer was sincerely 
sorry for. He had found him pleasant company when 
under his charge, and had allowed him his freedom on 
parole. He surmised that there had been bad blood 
between their captive and the soldiers. So far as I had 
observed, the treatment of the convicts by the soldiers 



IN THE BAY OF NI 189 

on the way out to Sakhalin was friendly, but the 
desperate criminals and their general surroundings on the 
island naturally harden them against all and sundry. A 
man lagging behind in doing his hard-labour duty of 
dragging logs, through weakness or illness, will get the 
butt end of a rifle in his back ; and it is scarcely surprising, 
so far away from the central administration, and in view 
of the difficulty of distinguishing between shams and 
genuine cases of illness. The time was when matters were 
infinitely worse, when there was but one doctor on the 
island, and brutal soldiers had the opportunity to lord it 
over poor prisoners in their charge, to vent their spite on 
them, and to kill, under the guise of correction, and report 
under the head of accident. 

We were squatted within the narrow compass of the 
tent when the Japanese agent, who looked after the storing 
of the fish preparatory to its lading, appeared, and we 
were invited to visit the two schooners. Rowing out to 
one of them, we clambered over the taffrail, strode into the 
little low cabin, and, after due salutations of " O hayo I " 
(Honourably early !), leaned our rifles against the side, and 
sank cross-legged on the matted floor. Over our glasses 
of tea a la Russe, we made the proposal that they should 
take us down south ; for the prospect of their early 
departure had opened to us the possibility of either visit- 
ing the Orochons and Gilyaks around Nabil Bay, a short 
day's sail south, where we hoped to find some means of 
ascending the Nabil river, and thence by native guidance 
to reach Derbensk ; or of sailing to the southern portion 
of the island, to the Bay of Patience, and visiting the Ainus. 
This was a sudden alteration in our plans, but, in regions 
where means of communication and transport are so un- 
certain, a by no means unusual occurrence. The Japanese 
captain, however, objected that he had his orders to return 
direct ; moreover, the weather was fickle, and he could not 
tell how many days might elapse before he could land us. 



iqo IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

Eventually the uncertainty, and the possibility of my 
missing communication with the mainland later, added to 
the risk of being stranded on the Nabil river, without 
means of transport, and with insufficient food, determined 
us to give up the idea, and adhere to our first plan, and 
proceed northwards. 

For this journey it was necessary to have a larger 
canoe, and a crew who knew the coast -line and, if possible, 
were known to the natives, for the bays were occupied 
not only by the Gilyaks, but also by another tribe, called 
by the Russians Orochons. While preparations were going 
forward, we strolled to the nearest Gilyak village of 
Kamavo. How welcome was the sun now ! Warmed 
within by a good meal, and our clothes dried, it was new 
life to run or bask on the sand in the warm noonday sun. 
I made a dash across the quarter-mile of sand-dune to 
get a glimpse of the great breakers, which had not ceased 
their booming throughout the wild, drear night. They 
were still thundering in, but how gloriously now in the 
brilliant sunshine. These were the waters of the vast 
Pacific, though after sweeping through the slight crescent 
barrier of the Kurile islands one chose to call them the 
Okhotsk Sea. To the east, 500 miles distant, stretched 
down the peninsula of Kamchatka, that acme of cold to 
the English schoolboy. 

Turning back again to the bay, and reaching the village 
of Kamavo, I entered one of the Gilyak huts. The 
Gilyaks boast of two kinds of huts, destined the one for 
summer and called tolf tuf, and the other for winter residence 
named torif. The extremes of climate, and contact with 
their neighbours have led to the adoption of dual dwellings, 
but until recent times, probably as late as the beginning of 
the nineteenth century on the mainland, and later on the 
island, the winter hut was their only style of dwelling. 

Protection against the wind and cold being the chief 
requisites of a winter abode, a site is chosen in the forest, 



IN THE BAY OF NI 191 

which has the added advantage of being handy for the 
winter's hunting. A quadrangular pit is dug to the depth 
of about three feet. At the corners of a smaller quad- 
rangle within this pit are erected four stout poles, which 
are united at the tops by four other poles. This forms 
the main framework of the hut. From the level ground, 
i.e. three feet above the floor of the hut, smaller poles, 
generally of larch, are rested against the framework all 
round, thus forming a tent-shaped erection with its conical 
top cut off. The whole of the structure is covered up with 
the earth dug out of the pit, saving only a hole in the top 
for chimney. A covered entrance or tunnel, likewise com- 
posed of timber supports covered in with earth, forms the 
approach to the dwelling. This is on the level ground, 
and the stranger having penetrated it, finds the end blocked, 
but slipping aside a sliding door, or, more accurately, a 
panel, a little earthen stairway is revealed, by which he 
descends to the floor of the hut. 

It will be seen from this that the winter huts, when 
covered with snow and lit up by a blazing fire inside, are 
very cosy. Dr. Schrenck and Mr. Sternberg have surmised 
from this pattern of hut, and from the survival of a custom 
in the bear festival indicating that their entrance and exit 
was originally only by the chimney, that the Gilyaks* 
ancestors came from the North. The words used for 
entering and leaving the hut, kusind and jigind, implying 
to sink and to emerge, also witness to the use of the 
chimney as entrance and exit. Such authorities are not 
lightly to be differed from, but it should be remembered 
that pit-dwellings of this kind have been used over wide 
areas by differing peoples, whose northern origin has not 
been attested, e.g. in Yezo, the Primorsk, and Manchuria, 
to mention only the surrounding regions ; and what is 
also important in this connexion, the early inhabitants 
of Manchuria, the Yih-len, are described in the Chinese 
annals of the After Han dynasty (a.d. 25-219) as 



192 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

"Troglodytes living in caves, their rank marked by the 
depth of their dwellings, the most honourable having a 
descent of nine steps," and (later chronicles) the " entrance 
being at the summit." 

Whatever may have been the origin of the winter hut, 
it is fairly certain that the Gilyak summer dwelling is trace- 
able to Northern China through Manchuria. It is easy to 
see how it would have appealed to the Gilyak. The melting 
snow in spring renders his winter hut damp and wet, and the 
increasing heat of the sun makes it stuffy and hot. 

The possession of two houses for the different seasons 
is also found to be an advantage from the point of view 
of their occupations. In winter it is convenient to be in 
the forest to pursue the hunting of the bear, fox, etc., while 
in the summer fishing points to the river bank or sea-coast 
as the most handy. In shape the summer hut resembles 
a rudely constructed Swiss chalet. Some were built on 
piles, but these were few, and this was apparently a doomed 
fashion. The one which we now entered, in Kamavo, was 
not large — about 16 feet long and 13 feet wide ; the side 
timbers rose to a height of about 4 feet 6 inches, and from 
these sprang the obliquely sloping roof of poles for rafters, 
and slips of bark for tiles. Stooping low, we advanced to 
the 3 feet doorway, cautiously assuming a half-erect position, 
and unsuccessfully attempting to avoid knocking our heads. 
Accustoming our eyes to the darkness, for there was but 
a hole in the roof for window and chimney, we made out 
in the centre a large earth and ash box, 4 feet long and 
2J feet broad, on the smouldering logs of which was a 
kettle, and from a rafter above depended a cauldron. 
Around the two sides and further end of the hut ran a 
rude bench or dais (nakk), 15 inches from the ground 
and about 4 feet in width, leaving a narrow gangway 
between it and the fire (fur). On the nakh were seated 
several Gilyaks, a mother with a baby, a girl smoking, and 
three or four men. Above hung a melee of articles, from 



IN THE BAY OF NI 193 

a baby's cradle to a rude axe for hewing out canoes. The 
cradle, of wood, shaped like a scoop without the handle, 
was strung to a cross-pole by thongs of seal-hide. On 
the bench and hanging above were fishing-nets, birch-bark 
bowls for water or seal-oil (p. 203), dried fish-skins, dog- 
skins, winter clothes, seal-oil in seal's stomachs, etc. Perhaps 
the state of the atmosphere is best left to the reader's 
imagination. Having photographed the interior, though 
with but poor result, owing to the prevailing darkness, I 
turned my attention to two or three " works of art." Two 
small fiat pieces of wood cut into the forms of a disc and 
a crescent hung from a beam. These represented the sun 
and the moon, and were used as charms. There were also 
two sticks, with shavings on, similar to the one I have 
described as protecting the canoe during its construction 
from evil spirits ; but these particular ones, I learnt, were 
for placing over a sick child, and would ensure its recovery. 

But no signs of worship were there, no graven images, 
for the great " Kiskh " is invisible to mortal eyes. Charms 
there are, though with the decline of the chant's influence 
and the contact with Russians these are losing their value 
in the eyes of the Gilyaks, and they laugh when questioned 
about them by the foreigner, yet not without a lurking 
sense of fear at the bottom of their hearts. 

Later on we shall see that the ckam, or medicine-man, 
exorcises spirits which take up a temporary abode in 
charms made in the shape of a human being. Otherwise 
even this anthropoid kind was used as an amulet. A 
pair of these, carved from wood, which I have (p. 194), are 
intended to be worn on the limb or part of the body 
affected ; for a sore throat, for instance, the little figures 
would be tied round the neck. 

Only on one occasion did I hear of anything approach- 
ing what is vaguely termed " idol- worship." 

It was told me by the ex-overseer at Derbensk, whose 
duties in the previous years had taken him down the 

O 



194 



IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 



river Tim. On one of his journeyings a severe snowstorm 
drove him to seek refuge at a Gilyak village where he was 
a stranger. As he was sitting down in the headman's hut, 
and about to make a meal, the Gilyaks said, " Give some- 
thing to the god (lord)." The overseer therefore placed 
some little cakes in the birch basket hanging in a corner 
before a wooden figure, such as I have described, which 

had its hands crossed on its 
breast and wore a belt. On the 
morrow the Russian observed 
that the basket was empty, the 
cakes had vanished. In the even- 
ing, therefore, he made offering 
of more, and lay down pretend- 
ing to sleep. Keeping careful 
but unsuspected watch, he saw 
a Gilyak come forward and take 
the cakes and eat them ; so he 
called out, "What are you doing? 
Let the god eat them ! " Where- 
upon the Gilyak, as may be 
imagined, was highly offended. 

As a rule, offerings were 
made in the open air, always 
on deserting our camp-fires, and left for the consumption 
of the deity. Not only were they the god's due, but the 
fulfilment of the rite brought good luck, and the omission 
ill-luck. All misfortunes are attributed to the anger of 
the god. If the Gilyak is unconscious of guilt, then it 
must have been some of his kindred who provoked the 
god to righteous anger; perhaps it was his wife, who had 
failed to guard the honour due to the hearth by allowing 
somebody to spit upon it, or to leave the hut with his pipe 
lighted from the sacred fire. 

Dr. Laufer, a member of the recent Jesup Expedition, 
despatched from Washington, U.S.A., and the greatest 




IN THE BAY OF NI 



195 



authority on the art of the Amur tribes, has declared of 
the Gilyaks and Golds that their art is lacking in realistic 
representations. Their purely decorative work — and he 
excludes from this all wooden objects, animals, etc., carved 
as charms or toys — he alleges, is confined to copies of 
Chinese representations of animals which these natives 
have never seen, such, for instance, as the cock, the tor- 
toise, and the mythical phoenix. It is interesting in this 
connexion to note that in this particular hut in the village 
of Kamavo, I found several carvings on the timbers of 
the wall of the hut of bears, as well as other crude mural 




decorations of a chess-board pattern. Perhaps these may 
be regarded as the exception which proves the rule. 

Emerging from the hut into a crowd of yelping dogs, we 
were attracted by the bear-cage. In front hung a birch-bark 
basket, as seen in the illustration (opposite p. 196), containing 
fresh water for Bruin. His owner fetched a piece of dried 
fish, and holding it before a hole in the cage, the bear, 
who was of full size, thrust his great paw out to grasp 
the fish, the while I snapped him with my camera. This 
animal, having already attained his majority, was due to 
play the chief role at a festival in the following January. 

The bear fete, which probably originated as a purely 
religious festival, has become a " Bank Holiday " in the 
Gilyak calendar, the great break in the monotony of the 
long winter. The proceedings are unique and interesting. 



196 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

The animal having been captured young, and fed up until 
he attains the age of four, a fete is decided upon for the 
following January. Invitations are then sent round to 
neighbouring villages, whose inhabitants, however, need no 
such announcement, for they are already well aware of the 
coming event. On the morning before the fete the village 
presents a busy scene as the guests arrive in great numbers, 
their sledges, drawn by teams of dogs, dashing up from all 
parts of the snow-mantled forest. 

Great preparations of food have been made for days 
past. The huts are crowded, and hospitality is freely 
dispensed. At the same time the owner of the bear and 
his neighbours will be gainers by the feast, for luxuries 
such as tobacco, rice, vodka, etc., are on sale, and will bring 
in a goodly profit. The staple article of the feast is of 
course yukola, or dried fish, but a variety of dishes is con- 
cocted by the Gilyak housewife, with this as a base. Dried 
and frozen hard, it is grated to fine powder and mixed with 
seal-oil and whortleberries ; and when you add to these 
three ingredients rice, salmon-roe, and roots, the possible 
combination of messes are many, and the results to the 
Gilyak highly palatable. The roots in most common use 
are pu-chi and pis (species of wild rhubarb, I believe). 
These are in demand for flavouring their stew of bear's, 
deer's or seal's flesh ; while a lily, which they name kaskk, 
is eaten generally with fish-roe. At special feasts and 
near Russian settlements, the guests may be regaled with 
potatoes, in which case they are doled out sparingly, and 
not a particle of them or their skins must be wasted. 

The day before the feast a rehearsal is held. Several 
men of the village go with the owner to the cage and pro- 
ceed to lift off one or two of the roofing logs. Inserting a 
thong in the form of a loop at the end of a stick, they 
skilfully slip this over the head of the bear, and then over 
a paw and shoulder to prevent strangling him when the 
strap is tightened. To this loop are attached other thongs, 




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IN THE BAY OF NI 197 

and the men can now proceed to unroof further and haul 
him out. In the case of the bigger bears the hauling is 
generally unnecessary, for he emerges too readily with a 
snarl and a growl ; and the one thing desirable now is to 
pull all the thongs taut, to prevent him attacking one or 
other of his captors. Methods differ slightly in different 
parts of the island ; but in this case the reader will see by 
the illustration that native-made ropes of grass were looped 
over his paws ; and to prevent his doing harm these ropes 
were carried under a pole placed between his fore- and 
hind-legs, and projecting on each side of him, on which 
several men stood. Held thus it was impossible for him to 
move his paws, and now the Gilyaks could proceed to 
muzzle him. Taking a piece of stick with a rope attached 
they teased him until he took it in his mouth, whereupon 
his muzzle was quickly and tightly bound to this "bit." 
To complete his toilet, in place of the leather band round 
his neck and shoulder, a seal-skin collar with two short 
lengths of chain was slipped over his neck. To the ends 
of the chains were attached thongs, which served for him to 
be led about by. 

The animal was then taken for a short walk to test his 
new "dress," and afterwards tied up and eventually put 
back again in the cage. Thus ended the rehearsal. It is 
quickly described, but the actual process takes a long 
time, the getting of the animal ready for evacuating the 
cage occupying half an hour. 

The following day the same performance was gone 
through, and the animal led to the hut of his owner and 
around it three times. Each time that he passed the door 
the master poked him with a tzakh, or twig adorned with 
shavings, and broke it with the force of the thrust. This 
circumambulation was done to the strains of a unique 
band. Three or four young women, keeping time, beat 
with sticks on a log supported on short uprights. This 
highly varied " musical " performance was accompanied by 



198 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

dancing. Although the " artiste " in this case was the 
oldest woman of the village, the display was far more 
interesting than the ritualistic dancing which the traveller 
in the East meets with generally, such for instance as that 
of young girls in the sacred temple of Nara in Japan. 

First of all the old lady, dressed in seal-skins, stamped 
down the deep snow, and formed a little level square plat. 
Then taking two pieces of evergreens she threw herself 
into queer postures, using the branches as fans. Her 
movements were not rapid, but occasionally, and all un- 
wittingly, she overstepped the limit of the plat and fell 
floundering in the deep snow, to the amusement of band 
and spectators too ; but this in no way disconcerted her, 
for she came up laughing to renew the performance. 

The bear was then paraded down an avenue of tzakhs 
stuck in the ground, to the place of execution. On the 
mainland there is much more merciless teasing of the 
animal than on Sakhalin. On the banks of the Amur 
the poor brute is dragged round for three days, and visits 
each hut in turn, where he is tied up and poked and 
teased, not always without danger to his tormentors. The 
smallness of the Sakhalin dwellings prevent such exhibi- 
tions on the part of the bear. While the poor animal was 
left tied up to ruminate over his position, the natives went 
off to feast ; but first they took of their luxuries, rice, 
whortleberries, etc., and fed their victim until he could 
eat no more. This is a characteristic trait of their attitude 
towards Bruin. They were about to kill him, yet they 
feted him. It was an attitude of apology. They realized 
that their conduct must appear ambiguous to him, and 
therefore, though he had to die at their hands, yet they 
would do all that they could to retain his good-will. There- 
fore they feast him loyally with all manner of dainties 
before he meets his fate at their hands. 

When the feasting, drinking, smoking, and talking were 
at an end, a start was made for the execution-ground. On 



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IN THE BAY OF NI 199 

their way the company halted at the beginning of the avenue 
to allow a few of their number to shoot blunt, wooden- 
ended arrows towards the bear. There seemed no attempt 
on their part to hit the animal, or else they ignominiously 
failed, for the shots were lamentably short of or beyond 
the mark. This appears to be only another example of 
the weakening of traditional custom, for the shooting with 
blunted arrows at the poor bear was one of the greatest 
pieces of " fun " in olden times. Arrived at the ground the 
crowd grouped itself in front of the animal in a semicircle. 

I have already said that customs differ from coast to 
coast, and from village to village, and here is a point of 
divergence. In many cases I believe the cham, or medicine- 
man, is not called in to officiate, possibly because the 
influence of his office is on the wane, and as the Tro 
Gilyaks told me "we have no great ckam now." The 
following, however, is the part played by this functionary at 
this juncture, as given me by an observer on the island. 

The cham, with a pine-twig in his hand, amid the deep 
silence of the spectators, goes close to the bear and 
whispers in its ear — 

'* You have eaten many berries, 

" You have caught many fish, 

" You have frightened many people ; 

" Your ancestors and your comrades have l broken ' many Gilyaks : 

" Therefore you must die for it. 

"But your 'host 5 has fed you three whole years, not stinting the 

delicious yukola (dried fish), 
" He has given you the best water, 
"He has taken you for walks, 

" He has bathed you thrice a day* in the ' summer year,' 
" And three ' winter years ' you have lived in a nice warm lodging ; 
" He, your host, will not kill you : 
" Therefore you must not complain about him to the great lord of the 

mountains." 

* I am afraid this is imposing on the bear's memory. It is such a 
difficult business getting him out of his cage ; and those I saw were 
not taken out more frequently, it was then autumn, than once a 
fortnight for a constitutional. 



200 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

At the end of this adjuration the cham moves a little to 
one side, still holding the pine-twig over the bear's head. 
At this point the accounts agree. An archer now came 
forward, and at a couple of yards or so from the bear 
fitted his iron-tipped arrow to the bow. The animal, 
however, would not expose his heart, and had to be teased 
until he turned round, when the archer let fly. Strangely 
enough poor Bruin emitted no sound, but simply tried to 
rub the arrow out with his paw, and failing to do so, sat 
looking round as if nothing had happened. The arrow had 
missed the heart, but pierced the lung, and the animal, still 
making no sign of pain, only coughed. Another arrow 
was shot, but this time merely hit the collar. The first 
was then pulled out, and the blood now finding vent, the 
poor beast sank down and died. When quite dead, the 
women came forward with sticks and lifted up the paws, 
and the carcase was dragged round the execution-ground 
three times. 

When the cham is present, he first cuts out the heart 
of the bear, and dividing it, gives the pieces to the most 
honoured members present. To these partakers of the 
heart of the sacrificed beast will be assured successful 
hunts during the whole of the season. 

The skin having been quickly stripped in this case, the 
carcase was cut up and the cauldrons were soon steaming 
with bear stew. All the delicacies of dried fish, rice, roots, 
roe, seal-oil, etc., were brought forth, and the feasting again 
began. The men sat in groups, the women waited upon 
them and then took part in the feast. The youths com- 
peted in archery, wrestling, and running, while primitive 
musical instruments were brought forth and songs were 
sung, telling of the exploits of heroes of the hunt. A 
favourite game with them is a game of ball. The aim is 
to keep it bounding in the air without its touching the 
ground. Only the hands may be used. The ball is made 
from the fungus of a tree. 



IN THE BAY OF NI 201 

The original signification of the whole ceremony of the 

feast is largely lost, but the religious motive in the minds 

of the Gilyaks of to-day seems to be the sending of a 

messenger to the great lord of the mountains, Pal ni 

vookh, to witness to their punctilious observances of the 

rites of offerings ; and, in order that their messenger may 

not miss his destination, it was usual, and is, I believe, still 

so among some villages to assist the spirit of the bear in 

finding his way to Pal ni vookh. Two aids were given 

him, one the planting of a stick on the execution-ground, 

pointing to the east where the great lord lived, and the 

other, the killing of two dogs, whose spirits were to hunt 

Bruin's spirit to Pal ni vookh. For it was explained that 

the bear, though he was a Gilyak was not a pious Gilyak. 

He would eat of the provisions made for him and all 

dwellers in the taiga by Pal ni vookh and Tol ni vookh, the 

lords of the forest and water, but in nothing would he 

give thanks ; whereas a true Gilyak always made offerings 

after every meal, therefore it could not be expected that he 

should know where to find Pal ni vookh, or if knowing 

should be inclined to go to him. Even Vanka was always 

most punctilious in placing some fish or tobacco on the 

ashes of our camp-fire as offerings to Pal ni vookh, and on 

one occasion we owed, so he assured us, our preservation 

from a watery grave to this timely act of his. 

Probably the fact of the bear being the most difficult 
and dangerous animal to capture adds to the value of the 
offering, of which the bear's spirit would be a witness. 
There is another consideration which lurks, however un- 
consciously, behind this ceremony. Not only is the bear 
the most dangerous animal to capture, although now the 
custom has deteriorated to the seizure of cubs and the 
rearing of them ; but he is also the strongest rival of the 
Gilyaks. He lives, as they do, on the fish of the river, the 
berries of the forest ; and even robs the Gilyaks' snares of 
the small animals caught therein. Therefore on every 



202 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

count he must die. It is useless to ask the Gilyaks of 
to-day the raison d'etre of the custom, for they do not 
know ; and, in any case, they would not reveal to a stranger 
the hidden meaning of their rites. The following is how a 
Russian fared when he tried to find out the signification of 
the ceremony, and I met with no more success. 

Gilyak. It means the offering to Pal ni vookk. 

Russian. Why do you not recite about it during the 
killing of the bear ? 

Gilyak, I don't know. 

Russian. Do the Gilyaks punish the bear for his 
crimes ? 

Gilyak. No. 

Russian. Why does the cham recite these charges in 
the bear's ear ? 

Gilyak. The Gilyaks have done this from ancient times. 
Ask the old men, perhaps they know something about it. 

The old men, however, on being asked, knew no more. 

There is one incident in the ceremonial which I have 
not mentioned, but which possesses some special sig- 
nificance. This is the saving of the bear's head, which is 
never on any account eaten. A skin offered to me, and 
the fells of the dogs which I bartered for were all minus 
the heads. 

It is noticeable that while the bear's head is not eaten, 
the heart is. The latter will bring success and courage to 
the hunters, but I gathered that the Gilyak believes the 
eating of the brain would render the consumer bear-like, 
and an enemy to his fellows. The skull is relegated at 
length to the Gilyak cemetery, and there, with skulls of 
dolphins, etc., placed on sticks. This is a habit common 
among the Ainus, who, however, place theirs near their 
huts and make offerings of sake (spirit), etc., to pacificate 
them and gain their protection ; whereas the Gilyaks' 
cemeteries are in the secret recesses of the woods, and are 
not frequented by them. What the idea that lies at the 



IN THE BAY OF NI 



203 



root of these golgothas, is, I do not know ; but it seems 
probable that they think the remains of the animals 
whose spirits have gone back to the great Pal ni vookh 
should rest near those of the Gilyak ; or that the spirits of 
these animals will come back to these spots and either 
guard the remains of the Gilyak or at least refrain from 
haunting the living. 




CHAPTER XII 
CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 

An Orochon village — Strange surroundings — A monopolist — Prepara- 
tions for a great feast — The New Year's festival — Barter — Our 
host " the richest man in the world " — The value of a needle — 
Petroleum lakes — The tundra — An unwritten tragedy. 

LEAVING this Bruin at Kamavo, who was soon 
destined to be chief actor in a spectacle such as 
I have described, we returned to pick up a new crew, 
and continue our journey northwards. We were now bound 
for a spot lying three or four miles from the coast in the 
tundra, where two engineers were prospecting, about eighty 
miles distant, and we expected to take two or three 
days in getting to it. In reaching this locality we should 
have passed beyond the last known settlement of the 
Gilyaks and Orochons. Our crew consisted of a Gilyak 
elder and two youths. The old man's name was Yungkin, 
but we called him Captain, or Charon, indiscriminately, 
for I could not look at him without his calling to mind 
the famous ferryman of the river Styx. 

We made good progress, for our new crew were good 
oarsmen ; Yungkin was reputed to know every inch of 
the coast, and, indeed, he had need to. On our left lay 
the low, swampy shore, backed in the far distance by 
forests, and a long range of hills. On our right were the 
sand-dunes, bare or scantily covered with coarse rush-grass, 
and stunted Swiss pine. Sandbanks were numerous, and 
all the skill and knowledge of our " captain " were 

204 



CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 205 

required to pilot us between them. Great flocks of gulls 
flew up at our approach, and sandpipers and snipe were 
wading and paddling in the ebbing sea. A couple of 
villages were passed, and, landing on a sandy islet, we 
shot a couple of snipe for our evening meal. By about 
4 o'clock we were nearly opposite a narrow strait which 
gave entrance to the sea. Here the smooth surface of 
the bay was ruffled, and my interpreter, who, as a Russian, 
had had little experience of the sea, was seized with 
apprehension ; but the sensation was really novel and 
delightful. It is impossible to describe the sense of buoy- 
ancy in a keel-less canoe riding on the crests or dipping 
into the troughs of the waves, but it was the nearest to 
floating in the air I expect to experience. After an hour 
or so the coast suddenly swerved inland for a considerable 
distance, and our " captain " steered across this to the 
distant shore. Darkness fell, and even he seemed to be 
rather puzzled. Several more miles were made before, at 
about 8.30 p.m., our "Charon" announced a village, and, 
peering into the darkness, I made out dimly the silhouette 
of some huts. 

Firing my revolver twice, the customary signal in the 
absence of bells and knockers in this part of the world, 
the kindly Orochons hurried down to welcome us. They 
had received news of our approach, though how or when 
we did not know. The headman of Dagi, as this village 
was called, led us through the crowd of yelping dogs to 
his hut. Going on our hands and knees, we crept in, guns 
in hand, and, standing half erect, dodged the cross-poles, 
from which fish were hanging, until reaching the reindeer- 
skin politely spread in our honour, we sank hurriedly down 
on it. The reason of this hasty collapse was not far to 
seek. The smoke of the fire which filled the hut blinded 
us, and caused our eyes to stream. When I had mopped 
my organs of vision, and could look round, the oddness, 
the strangeness of the scene, impressed me ; and I asked 



206 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

myself, Would my friends ever receive me into their clean 
homes again ? 

The atmosphere was not only smoky, but thick with 
the greasy smell of fish hanging above our heads in the 
various stages of curing. Around the fire, which occupied 
the middle of the floor, or ground, were squatted about a 
score of strange figures, curiously clad. Here, were grimy, 
brown-faced women, suckling children, or smoking in turns 
from a Japanese pipe — a novel form of labour co-operation ; 
there, were men in groups devouring morsels of scraggy 
dried fish from the same platter, and dipping them into 
a common bowl, or, rather, birch-bark basket of seal-oil. 
Close on my right was crouched an old woman, the grand- 
mother apparently, clothed in skins, her unkempt raven 
locks straggling unheeded over her face. Her sight had 
almost forsaken her — small wonder with the decades of 
smoke she had endured — and the long lashes of her closed 
eyes alone were visible as she thrust forward her pipe for 
a light. It was promptly seized by a youngster of about 
four, who, snatching a burning faggot from the fire, lighted 
up, and gave three or four experimental puffs before passing 
it to the old lady. Babies were being rocked violently in 
cradles strung from the cross-poles, and tiny children were 
attempting to grope their way out of the recesses of the 
hut, where they were rolled up in a tent-covering, to peer 
at the strange arrivals. But of all our surroundings the 
most striking was that of the weird-looking faces, with 
unkempt hair, seen for one moment in the flickering blaze 
of the fire, and lost again in the gloom of the hut. 

The Orochon summer-hut, which we now occupied for 
the first time, was of different construction to that of the 
Gilyaks'. In shape it was not unlike a tent, or a boat 
turned keel uppermost. A simple scaffolding in the in- 
terior supported a horizontal pole, against which were 
leaned a great number of larch-poles from all sides, the 
ground-plan of the hut being oval in shape. Pieces of 




AN OROCHON MAN (mainland). [ To face page 206. 



CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 207 

poplar bark were used as tiles, and outside these were 
again placed a few more poles to keep them on. A low 
entrance or exit of two or three feet, covered up at night, 
was left at each end, and a displaced piece of bark in the 
roof allowed some of the smoke to escape. 

The Gilyak huts, with their crowd of inhabitants, their 
insect population, and thick atmosphere, were not ideal 
quarters for a fastidious person ; but to these disadvantages 
the Orochon added the odour of slices, heads, and tails 
of fish, rendered more powerful from a feebler attempt at 
ventilation. And yet as I lay on the skins, and gazed at 
the vaulted roof above me, I asked myself, Was there ever 
hall of panelled oak that spelled more clearly the family 
history, the story of its past dwellers. The poles and rich 
bark lining literally glowed like polished ebony, with 
more than the memory of many a thousand fish that 
had smoked over that cheery fire, and exuded the odour 
of generations of denizens of sea and river, which had fed 
and clothed the dwellers therein. 

However unpleasant to the stranger this smoke-curing 
of fish by the Orochons while it lasts may be, it is 
one of the few advantages that they can claim over the 
Gilyaks. The latter is entirely dependent on a sunny 
season for the drying of his catch, and if it should be 
rainy, then he will be in danger of starvation before 
winter is over, from an insufficient accumulation of stores ; 
for dried fish is bread and meat to these tribes during the 
long winter. The Orochon, on the other hand, after 
hanging his fish to drain, as in the picture, slices and cuts 
them up and cures them in the shelter of his hut over his 
fire. 

This curing only goes on during a portion of the 
summer season, but the effect of the smokiness of their 
huts seemed to me patent in the semi-closed eyes of the 
Orochon, a feature which renders him much more strange- 
looking than the Gilyak, whom he really surpasses in 



208 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

intelligence. The latter is not a linguist, but the Orochon 
is generally found to speak both tongues. Moreover, the 
latter is a more energetic hunter and better trader. In 
some of their journeys across the island the Orochons had 
come into contact with the Russian priests. The effect 
of their conversion to the Greek Orthodox Church was to 
be seen in the severing of their pigtails, the abandonment 
(in a few cases) of the keeping of bears, and last, but not 
least, the transfer of many sable-skins to the priests. 

The name of these people seems to be of Tungus origin. 
They are called by Dr. Schrenck, Oroken, but are known 
officially as Orotchons. In fact, these people and the 
Orochis, or Oroktis (Dr. Schrenck calls them Orotschen) 
of the Primorsk coast, the Oltschas of the Amgun river, 
and the Orotschonen (Dr. S.) of the Upper Amur, are all 
of a Tungus race, and scarcely distinguishable otherwise 
from one another, than by the occupation of different 
territories. 

Among Tungus and Mongol peoples the letter "1" 
often takes the place of " r," so that Oltscha may be 
Orcha, Or'cha, or Orocha. Oronchun is the name by 
which they were known among the Manchus, and oron, 
or oro f is Tungus for a reindeer, hence what is meant is, 
that all these people are reindeer folk, or people who use 
reindeer. 

This is the main distinction between the habits of the 
Orochons and Gilyaks. The former use reindeer for 
sledge-drawing, and the latter dogs. The last are kept 
by the former for hunting only. The Gilyak name on 
Sakhalin for the Orochon is Ornish, and the latter calls 
himself Ortcmada. 

We shall probably be near the truth in regarding them 
as a branch of the great Tungus race, of which the Manchu 
is the most civilized, and the so-called Tungus of Eastern 
Siberia the wildest representative. The Orochon is only 
a little less wild than the Tungus, but he appears to have 



CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 209 

come more into contact with surrounding tribes, e.g. the 
Golds, Gilyaks, Samogirs, Daurians, Ainus, etc., and to 
have been influenced to lead a rather less nomadic life 
than the original stock. In summer he is settled as I 
found him. In winter the hunt carries him and his rein- 
deer, and his portable skin tents, into the depths of the 
forest, and before spring arrives he is away with the spoils 
of the chase to the mainland to barter. 

Among these tribes there appeared to be no traditions 
of a great chief or king. The Gilyaks are, as we have 
seen, divided into tribes, viz. the Tim, Tro, and west coast 
people, besides the mainland or Amur Gilyaks. These 
tribes are sub-divided into khala, or clans. Each khal 
consists of a family circle. The limits are vague, but 
include grandfathers, uncles, etc. The eldest representative 
of the khal is the chief, and the members are to be found 
scattered in many villages. Each village has its council 
of elders, to whom the injured apply. In cases of mortal 
offence, both parties, the criminal and the eldest male of 
the injured man's family, march out against one another 
with bows and arrows ready strung, but the council sitting 
around urge them to end the matter peacefully, and 
ordinarily they succeed, the rivals embrace, talk peace, 
and the criminal pays a heavy fine. 

The Russian authorities wisely refrain from inter- 
ference, and look to the richest man in each village, whom 
they term the starosta, to keep order, etc. 

In earlier days prowess and skill in the hunt led 
to wealth and position in the village, but to-day, as with 
feudalism in Japan, these are giving way to trade as the 
stepping-stone. There is a Tungus known by the name 
of Maxim who is probably the richest native in the 
island, with all due deference to my friends, the brothers 
Fizik, whom we met afterwards. His gains are made by 
lending to other natives in the time of their need, and 
thus gaining a lien on the proceeds of their hunt. In this 

p 



210 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

way he tries to obtain a monopoly, and preclude the sale of 
skins to any but himself. 

An amusing rencontre occurred between him and the 
prospectors. These had left on their hands, after the 
despatch of some of their convict workmen, some frieze 
khalati, and so they offered them in barter to the natives, 
who gladly accepted them. Maxim hearing of this, and, 
regarding it as poaching on his preserves, circulated 
stories of these two whites being brodyagi. The objects of 
his discrediting stories got wind of the fact, and when one 
day the monopolist arrived at their hut, he was allowed 
to enter, and was given a meal. They refused, however, 
to accept or purchase anything of him, and asked how 
it was he allowed himself to enter the hut of brodyagi f 

This dumbfounded him, and he was taken off his 
guard. In vain he became profusely apologetic. " He 
had never thought them so. How could they think of such 
a thing ? " etc. 

But to return to the evening meal in the Orochon hut. 
The men had been served, and the women, having supplied 
their lords' wants, joined the children, and began their 
supper. Evidently this starosta (as the Russians, following 
their custom at home, chose to call the headman of the 
village) was a rich man, for rice was on the platter of the 
children, and one chubby little chap, of about three, was 
vainly endeavouring to convey his mess of fish and rice 
to his mouth by the aid of a cross between a chopstick 
and a spoon ; but was fain to bring the left hand to bear 
to bundle it in. Next to him was a mother who, having 
finished hers, was preparing the platter for her neighbour. 
This was accomplished by licking it all over, drying it 
with a bunch of grass, and finally polishing it on her 
gaiters. After the meal the fire was banked up, and all 
prepared to retire. Men and women slipped off their 
gaiters, and rolled themselves in an extra tunic, and 
stretched themselves on the floor or ground of the hut. 



CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 211 

Early morning saw the women astir, bringing fuel, and 
water from the river in their bark baskets, and making 
preparations for the meal of tea and yukola against the 
rousing of their lords. After this there was a great stir in 
the culinary department. As I lay on the reindeer-skin, 
I only slowly took in the importance of the proceedings. 
This was no less than the preparation of the Christmas 
plum-puddings, or what corresponded to it in the Orochon 
feastings. One woman was scraping off the scales from 
salmon-skins, and putting them in the cauldron, while 
another was busily pounding in a wooden trough, shaped 
like a butcher's tray, rice, fish, and whortleberries, and 
mixing with them seal-oil. This duly stirred and cooked 
was, I understood, to be partaken of with a dash of sea- 
water, to add, I suppose, the requisite delicate flavour. 
These operations were of a very serious nature, and the 
mixing and pounding lasted for hours. The importance of 
the feast lay in its inauguration of the sable hunt. 

Among the Gilyaks the hunt is preceded by an in- 
teresting ceremony. The sable (Mustela zibellind) and 
seal hunts commence each a new year in the Gilyak 
kalendar, and thus he has two years to our one. If only 
the Gilyak child kept " birthdays," he would be the envy 
of his western compeers. These two years which begin in 
October and April respectively, are called the winter year 
(tulf-mi) and summer year (tolf-an), and are opened by 
holiday festivals. The sable holiday goes by the name of 
Pal ni vookh chi-sonch, or " the prayer to the lord of the 
forest." 

It is a wintry scene. The snares are set on logs and 
branches spanning the narrow streams and forest creeks. 
The first snows have fallen, covering all the forest with 
a thin mantle of white. The cold north wind hurries 
across the land. The trees stand silent in the sombre 
depths, hanging their hoary, lichen-covered branches, and 
amidst the hush a shadow steals quietly across the scene. 



212 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

It is a sable. He goes by accustomed paths. He does 
not care to swim the cold water, but seeks a fallen tree or 
log whereon to pass. All unsuspectingly he creeps along 
a trunk, only to find his way blocked by a tiny barrier 
of sticks, arranged in the shape of a fan ; nevertheless a 
way, one way, is left, and that through a loop in the centre. 
Rising on his hind-legs and pushing through, he struggles, 
and in so doing releases a peg hitched with a ratchet, and 
a bent twig at one end of the cord flies back, tightening 
the noose. Many trackers are out, but each brings his 
first catch to one place, where due honour is then paid 
to the great giver of them, the lord of the forest. It 
would savour of greediness, of meat without grace, to 
start off on the important hunt of the sables — creatures 
whose skins are so valuable that anything, even in later 
times " fire-drink," may be purchased with them — without 
due acknowledgment to the giver. A feast is made ; for 
what function can dispense with feasting? and pieces of 
roasted flesh, tobacco, etc., are dug into the ground as 
an offering to the god, just as in the seal festival, we 
shall see, bones are cast into the sea. At this point it 
is necessary, lest he be not observing or engaged else- 
where, to call the attention of Pal ni vookh to their offering, 
so they whisper, " Chookh, Chookh" i.e. " God, Thou God." 
They do this in an undertone, lest the pal-rush (daimones) 
should hear ; for these evil spirits dwell in the swamps 
and the depths of the forest, and might make off with 
the offerings. For this reason, and because Pal ni vookh 
generally walks among the mountains, the Gilyaks take 
the precaution of making their offering on high ground. 

When the hunting season is advanced, another method 
for the capture of the sable is adopted. The native sets 
out with his dogs, who quickly find the tracks of the 
little animal, and drive it up a tree. The hunter then 
lets fly a blunted arrow, and, if skilful, stuns his prey. 
With fair success he may thus catch seven or eight sables 



CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 213 

in a day. He is careful so to kill them as not to injure 
the skin, and in skinning he strips it off like a sock. Half 
of the flesh he gives to the dogs, and the other half he 
offers to Pal ni vookh. 

The Orochons, though more advanced than the 
Gilyaks, did not practise the art of washing, and, when 
I proceeded to perform a portion of my toilet outside the 
hut, there was considerable excitement. I refer, with 
apologies, to the operation of cleaning my teeth. It was 
sufficient to gather about ten of the tribe around me, 
one in particular taking a specially good coign of vant- 
age directly opposite me, and all talking volubly on 
the subject. Unfortunately, I did not understand their 
tongue, but I guessed that they had constituted themselves 
an informal committee of anthropologists to discuss the 
object, means, and probable origin of such an interesting 
ceremony. 

With strangers, both the Orochons and Gilyaks were 
sober, rather solemn, and reserved ; but on becoming 
familiar they expanded, and became at times jolly and 
full of fun. On this occasion a mistake of theirs occa- 
sioned much merriment, so much so that the incident, 
simple as it was, has now no doubt become part of the 
history handed down by tradition. 

Our baggage had not recovered from the effects of 
its soaking, and, producing from the depths thereof a 
cricketing shirt, still wet, I asked them, in Russian, with 
explanatory gesticulations, to dry it. Hastening off with 
it they immediately plunged it into water ; but when the 
mistake had been explained to them by our Gilyak " cap- 
tain," they saw in it an excellent joke, and burst into loud 
laughter. Their appreciation of it did not end here, for 
some days after, when we had returned to our river-crew, 
there was a good deal of merriment in the hut one evening, 
and, in answer to my inquiry, I learnt that the story of 
the shirt was being told again. 



214 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

Before pushing on from this village, I brought out cloth, 
buttons, gunpowder, etc., in order to barter for utensils 
and native clothing. At the time the women were busy 
preparing fish-skins for dress material, and, indeed, they 
seemed always to be busily occupied, whereas the men, 
whose work was arduous at times, enjoyed long periods 
of rest and laziness. The latter, all save a youth or two 
who were hewing out a boat, and some who had gone to 
drive in the reindeer from the forest, were squatted smoking 
and chatting. 

The proposal to barter brought all together, and an 
old lady began proceedings by proudly displaying her ward- 
robe to me. On my side, in addition to the buttons, etc., 
coloured neck-kerchiefs, needles, brick-tea, tobacco, etc., 
were forthcoming. The bargaining was severe, for the 
headman of the hut was well-to-do, and stood out for good 
prices. With the aid of four languages, viz. English, 
Russian, Gilyak, and Orochon, bargains were arranged, 
and I found myself the happy possessor of some child's 
seal-hide shoes and the old lady's work-bag, such as one 
imagines will be taken to an Orochon u sewing meeting " 
when that point of civilization is reached ! I fear my 
lady friends would scarcely appreciate it, though it is a 
work of art. Composed entirely of fish-skins, it is rather 
smelly ; but considerable ingenuity and skill have been 
displayed in piecing together the skin of the lighter 
(the belly) and the darker parts (the back) of the fish 
into a pattern. In shape it is like an ordinary flap-purse 
(p. 215). 

Resuming our journey again, we found that the bay 
beyond Dagi gradually narrowed to a mere passage, and 
grew so shallow that we stuck several times on sandbanks, 
although our canoe drew but three or four inches of 
water. At last our natives were compelled to get out, 
and go on voyages of discovery for the less shallow 
channels through which to drag the canoe. We were 



CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 



215 



thus slowly proceeding through this wild and desolate 
region, with nought but sandhills and coarse rush grass 
to be seen, when suddenly at a turn we came upon three 
Russians. We were on the alert at once, but a suspicion 
of the truth dawned upon us when we saw their boat. 
They were convicts in the employ of the petroleum pro- 
spector, and, having been sent to bring along some casing 
left behind on account of the shallows, had got stuck here, 
and were waiting for the incoming tide. With our lighter 
craft we were more successful, and crept on until the 




passage opened out into Chaivo Bay.* Here great flocks 
of ducks and geese, gathering for migration south, warned 
us of the approaching close of the short Siberian autumn. 
As we emerged into the bay, our old "captain" steered 
in a westerly direction for the prehistoric shore, and after 
five or six hours of rowing, we expected to be nearing 
our haven, the Orochon village of Val. We were looking 
forward to great things here, for had not Yungkin, who 

* Chaivo is, in the first place, the name of a village. Chat or cha 
in Gilyak means bay, and vo a village ; hence, the bay village. 



2i6 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

is a Gilyak elder and an authority on all matters in the 
Tro Gilyak world, informed us that we should sleep 
that night in the home of the richest man in the world ? 
Such an experience in this part of the globe we had 
not expected — in fact, my dress-suit was ten or twelve 
days' journey off. Our curiosity was aroused. What 
would this Vanderbilt and his home be like? Should 
we find a galaxy of electric light and a host of liveried 
servants ? 

The two-days-old moon had set, and no sign did we 
see of approaching magnificence. If we had marvelled 
on the previous night how our old native had found his 
way, it was even more astonishing on this occasion ; 
but there came a point when even he had to confess 
failure, and our chance of meeting with the great pluto- 
crat seemed fast diminishing. Where were we ? That 
was the question. A low cliff, visible until now, had 
disappeared in the darkness ; but we began to feel a 
slight current, and, surely, that on our left was the mouth 
of a river ? We tried and found it to be so. We could 
dimly descry trees and bushes silhouetted against the 
sky. The river had many arms, perhaps we were in a 
delta ? If so, which was the main stream ? We could 
not tell ; so chose as we might, and rowed on for about 
a verst. Peering into the darkness, not a sign of huts 
could be made out. At last, in the hope of awakening 
some answering cry or the howl of their dogs, we hallooed, 
and then discharged our revolvers. Once — twice — thrice ; 
but no answer came borne on the night-breeze save the 
cry of some startled water-fowl. Cold, stiff, and hungry 
on a waste of waters, was it to end in our camping shelter- 
less in this swamp ? The situation was discussed, and we 
resolved to descend the river again to its mouth and grope 
along the coast in the darkness. Half an hour or more 
passed when, creeping along, we fired again ; and soon 
after, to our relief, the glimmer of a light was seen, 



CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 217 

followed by the barking of dogs. Steering for the spot and 
firing our revolvers, dark figures were soon running down 
the banks to help beach the canoe and carry our impedi- 
menta up to the huts. What was the palace of this 
Vanderbilt, or rather Vanderbilts, for there were two 
brothers, like? It differed nothing in appearance from 
the other huts, saving only that it was a little larger, 
measuring perhaps 22 x 16 feet. Wherein, then, con- 
sisted their wealth? They possessed, we were assured, 
more than sufficient fish, roots, rice, tea, tobacco to last 
them through the winter, and many skins ; but, above 
all, they owned at least seventy reindeer between them, 
more than all the other Orochons together, so our 
Gilyak interpreter told us. To my inquiries did this 
wealthy family live any differently from others of the 
tribe, and how did they enjoy their wealth, the reply was, 
" They ate similar food because it was the ' law ' (custom), 
but they had more sledges, and went more frequently in 
winter to Nikolaevsk to dispose of their greater quantity 
of reindeer, furs, etc." 

I suspect that luxuries, including rice and gaudy 
material such as Chinese silk brocade, kept partly as 
an investment of capital and sometimes for the lying in 
state, were the indulgences their superior possessions 
allowed them. Then, too, the rich had the privilege of 
dispensing to the poor, and of being held in repute for 
their hospitality which brought not only satisfaction in 
this world and the next, but power over the recipients. 

We gave a lot of trouble here, as I thought, but our 
host — Vanderbilt, or, to give him his proper name, Fizik 
— and the various members of the family, were most 
obliging ; and without the slightest objection the lower 
cross-poles were cleared of fish and wiped, at our request, 
so that our still sodden rugs might be hung up to dry. 
The interior presented a similar scene to that of the night 
before. As usual, there were the representatives of three 



218 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

generations in the hut, including the old grandmother, 
her married sons, their wives and children, besides guests. 
By the glow of the fire one could see several men rending 
raw fishes' heads with their teeth, others at another course 
of dried fish and seal-oil, and yet others smoking sedately, 
criticizing at intervals the white strangers, or watching the 
children, to whom they seemed much attached. On our 
right was the wife of our host's brother, who was away 
in the forest minding the reindeer, and we had our atten- 
tion specially called to her as the prettiest woman in 
Sakhalin, and one with whom all the men fell in love ! 
The privilege of gazing on her unrivalled beauty was, I am 
afraid, lost upon us, for we lamentably failed to appreciate 
her charms. 

Throwing myself on the reindeer-skin for the night, 
my last waking glance was at line upon line, row upon 
row of drying fish, as far as the eye could penetrate into 
the dim recesses of the roof. 

The next morning, having breakfasted upon black 
bread, the last of some week-old butter, and cocoa, we 
set out to inspect the vast possessions of our host, to wit, 
the herd of reindeer. Stepping into a canoe, we had the 
honour of being paddled for a mile or so by the " richest 
man in the world." In ascending the river, which wound 
among the lowlands, I was struck by the great contrast 
in the scenery. Instead of sandy wastes, dwarf and stunted 
Swiss pine, wild swamps or dense forests, we were now on 
a river that seemed to wind through meadows and parks. 
Sheltered from the rude blasts and the cold current of the 
Okhotsk Sea, the banks were rich in flowers and rushes. 
Willows and nut-trees bending over the water's edge made 
shady reaches, where, in the cool mysterious depths, fish 
hid ; and stately firs, graceful mountain-ash, or a dark 
group of Swiss pine stood in ornamental relief against 
the light green of the meadows. At a spot known to our 
guide we disembarked, and, guns in hand, strode through 



CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 219 

low scrub until we came upon a knoll-covered clearing. 
From here we caught sight of the distant herd, feeding 
on the lichen-covered moorland. The more restless were 
tethered, others, including the young, were free. Members 
of a herd occasionally get astray, but they are marked, to 
distinguish them from wild game, which, however, does not 
always prevent their being shot, accidentally or otherwise. 
Large, powerfully built animals, of a grey-buff colour, and 
occasionally all white, one understands, on seeing them, 
their power to support a rider or draw a sledge. 

Creeping round to leeward of the herd we found our 
host's brother lodged in a little drill-tent. Our larder 
being low, we proposed to buy a couple of haunches of 
venison, but they refused to kill unless we took the whole 
carcase, and this at the exorbitant price of thirty rubles. 
In Nikolaevsk, in winter, when fresh meat is very scarce, 
and at the end of several hundred miles' journey, a 
reindeer is sold for twenty-five rubles. Moreover, as we 
learnt afterwards, they had disposed of one recently for 
eight rubles, and had only three days before killed another 
for their own use. Evidently they thought we were legiti- 
mate spoil ; but we were not to be done, and ultimately 
secured a haunch on our return at a reasonable price, 
the payment for which included, I remember, two reels 
of cotton. 

We induced one of the brothers to milk a doe, one 
of the herd, as I had always been curious to taste rein- 
deer's milk. I found it very thick, sweet, and exceedingly 
rich. Having photographed "the richest man in the 
world " we returned to the village. A little bartering 
was done before our departure, and one particularly finely 
worked piece of reindeer harness I was fortunate enough 
to secure. The maker of it, an old lady, was very loth 
to part with what had taken her, she avowed, three years 
to work — three years of very few spare moments I should 
opine. It is a wide strap of seal-skin embroidered with 



220 



IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 



white reindeer hair in the Gilyak fashion, with cockerel- 
like convolutions which are probably Gold, or rather, 
Chinese in origin. Hair from the reindeer's mane, fish-gut, 
and nettle-fibre are the sewing material of these tribes. 
How important a part sewing must have played in 




the domestic economy can be imagined, when clothing con- 
sisted of salmon-skins, a material which could not be 
ordered over the counter by the yard, but had to be dili- 
gently stitched together to form an adequate covering. 
In early times bone needles were used, but when, by acci- 
dent or by barter, a big ship's canvas-needle came into 
their hands, it was a priceless treasure. How eagerly 



CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 



221 



such was sought after and seldom obtained. The happy 
possessor handed it down as a family heirloom. In those 
days they tell us a needle was of such value that a wife 
could be bought with it ; whereas to-day a helpmeet may 
cost as much as a narta (sledge) and team of thirteen 
dogs. To keep the needle safe, bone cases (nookh-tses), 
curiously carved, were made ; and it is interesting to note 
that the principle on which they work is exactly the same 
as that of the little silk ones made to-day in Korea. 

The following shows the value they used to put upon 
the needle. A Russian came upon a Gilyak family crying 
and howling. 




" Why are you crying ? " he asked. " Is somebody 
dead?" 

" No ! What is death ? It would have been better 
had somebody died. The needle is lost ! " 

The afternoon saw us once more pursuing a northerly 
course. On the opposite shores of Chaivo Bay, on the 
sandbanks, were Vurkovo and Chaivo, both Gilyak settle- 
ments, and New Val, an Orotchon village. North of these 
there were none known, save only a solitary hut or two 
occupied occasionally merely for the fishing. 

These we could visit on our return, our present objec- 
tive was the hut of a prospector four miles inland from 
the coast. A couple of hours' rowing brought us within 
sight of another river, known as the Boatassin. As we 
approached it two figures on the left bank were moving 
about and disappearing rather suspiciously, but as we 
neared land they showed themselves quite openly, and we 
saw that one of them was a soldier, though his uniform was 



222 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

old, shabby, and much the worse for wear. Having landed 
our baggage with some difficulty, for the tide was still on 
the ebb, we found it impossible to carry all of it the six 
versts (four miles) to the hut, and therefore stowed all the 
heavier articles in a cave close by. Our " captain " would 
not desert his canoe, so we left him on guard while we 
distributed the baggage among our retinue. 

Our Gilyaks had showed extraordinary powers of en- 
durance in rowing, but they were ill-fitted to carry loads 
on shore. We therefore arranged our cavalcade accordingly, 
the soldier leading the way, followed by his companion, 
the exile who had been responsible for two murders, then 
Mr. X., my interpreter, and the two Gilyaks — I bringing up 
the rear. Our way lay through what had been dense 
forest a short while since, but was now denuded of its 
undergrowth. At first I blamed this wanton destruction, 
but, when I had made the acquaintance of the surviving 
mosquitoes, I sympathized with those who had fired their 
way through the forest. We passed over hill slopes, almost 
snow-clad in appearance, covered with the lichen which the 
reindeer loves, and among hoary-looking trees hung with 
a capillary lichen which he also favours. The slopes gave 
way at length to swamps temporarily bridged with larch- 
poles, along which it was necessary to walk Blondin-like. 
We were met and heartily welcomed by the prospector's 
son, and, strange as it may seem, by an English youth 
who by a series of curious chances found himself in this 
wild out-of-the-world spot. They had preceded us by about 
two months. 

Petroleum, known for a long time to the natives, and 
reported on by the Government expert, Mr. Bazevich, in 
1894, had been discovered to the prospector, who had 
extended his search until he had found, not only exusions 
of it on this spot, but lakes of it a few miles north near the 
Nutovo river. One of these, which had a diameter of 
about eighteen feet, was in a state of bubbling upheaval. 



CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 223 

The others had a surface of bituminous mud, owing to the 
evaporation of the oil, which was soft, but at the same 
time offered sufficient resistance to allow of walking upon 
it. In boring at a spot four miles north of the Boatassin 
river, eternally frozen ground had been found at a depth 
of ten and a half metres. This is very low, and accounts 
for the tundra hereabouts being less pronounced than on 
the north-west shores. On the west coast Dr. Poliakov 
reported it in midsummer, on July 1, at half a metre's depth, 
in the valley of the Duika (Great Alexandrovka) river. 

A year after I reached this spot, a Russian petroleum 
expert, Mr. R. S. Platonov, despatched by the Baku 
Manufacturers Trust, visited and inspected the neighbour- 
hood. On the same trip he had already paid a visit to the 
Texas and Pennsylvanian oil-fields. According to the 
Russian newspaper, the Kavkaz (Caucasus) of June, 1903, 
he takes a very optimistic view of the wealth and extent of 
the Sakhalin fields. He is reported as saying that all he 
had seen in America was as nothing compared to that 
which he had found in Sakhalin. He is even made to 
assert that the fields situated on the banks of the river 
Nutovo exceed those of Baku in all respects. The oil is 
said to contain no benzine, and therefore to be capable of 
immediate use as fuel. Such a discovery may prove of 
use both to the Russian Fleet, the Manchurian and Ussuri 
railways ; and by refining to the vast hordes of consumers 
of lamp-oil in China, Korea, and Japan. 

It is to be hoped that Mr. Platonov's hopeful report 
may not be belied, and that the supplies may prove to be 
deep-lying ; for should they be actively worked, they will 
prove incidentally a god-send to the " exile settlers," who, 
from the absence of employment, drift in large numbers 
of cases into their old ways. 

In 1898, a discovery of gold was made, and a company 
was formed, which soon however gave up. It was rumoured 
that eternally frozen earth was struck, and proceedings 



224 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

stopped. Frozen soil presents no insuperable difficulties, 
but probably the gravels were situated at a considerable 
depth (in the Vitim district * they are said to be frozen to 
a depth of 150 feet), and therefore were quite unprofitable 
to work. 

Owing to the frozen subsoil of the tundra, in summer 
the surface water cannot drain off, and the land presents 
a region of swamps and meres shrouded in a sun-lit mist, 
covered with coarse dank grass, gnarled and stunted 
bushes of larch and birch, and low clusters of berry- 
laden^d brushwood ; and in winter a frozen waste, over 
which the Tungus course with their reindeer sledges. 

The two nights following were spent in the log-hut, 
which accommodated the prospectors and the convicts 
whom they employed. Through a long low room, with 
beaten earth for floor, occupied by the latter, we reached 
the living and sleeping quarters of the masters. Adjoining 
these was the store-room, containing kegs of salt beef, 
potatoes, flour, etc., for it was necessary to provision as for 
a siege. Externally this store-room resembled an earth- 
work, a form of erection common in Siberia, and designed 
to exclude the extreme cold and heat. 

It was a rude life, and lonely, separated as they were 
by a journey of 300 miles by sea and river from even 
the nearest Russian penal settlement. In sickness, acci- 
dent, or danger from brodyagi, they had themselves alone 
to rely upon. Their convicts behaved fairly well, and 
proved moderately faithful since they were treated well, 
and knew that they were ever so much better off than 
they would be in the hands of officials ; but in the 
event of any brodyagi coming along, the masters had to 
be prepared to find their men neutral ; but that is a story 
which comes later. 

Winter, which would have added to the dreariness of 
their situation, brought them release, for without proper 

* North-east of Lake Baikal. 



CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 225 

buildings as protection against a cold of — 40 or — 50 
(Fahr.), work could not be carried on. 

It was six or seven weeks later that they started to 
return to Derbensk. By punting, rowing, and towing, the 
convicts got the boat as far as the shallows which connect 
the Bays of Chaivo and Ni. Here they were brought to a 
standstill by ice, which for some distance they had already 
broken through. There was nothing for it but to return, 
which was more easily said than done, for the ice had 
meanwhile drifted, and was congealing between them and 
their point of embarkation. They, therefore, made land at 
a nearer point, the Orochon village of Old Val, and found 
their way overland to their hut. On their way they came 
across a Gilyak hut, in which reclined in various postures 
six skeletons. An inquiry was afterwards made as to the 
manner of their death, whether it was the work of brodyagi ; 
but it was generally concluded that they had died of eating 
bad fish. 

The position of the prospectors was now difficult, for 
the provisions would not last them and their men more 
than a few weeks, and means of transport there were none. 
Much against their wish, but rather than risk starvation, 
ten of the convicts were given as much stores as they 
could carry, and started off to make their way on foot. A 
Gilyak guided them by tracks known to him, and along 
the frozen river, until after many weary days they reached 
their destination. Their employers had meanwhile waited 
in the hope of finding Gilyaks who would take them on 
their sledges as soon as the bays and river would allow it. 
For some time the thermometer had registered below zero 
(Fahr.), and after considerable trouble Gilyaks were found 
who took them on sledges drawn by thirteen dogs round 
the bays and up the Tim to a village called Ishir, whence 
they made their way through the forest to Ado Tim, sleep- 
ing on the way in the open, with the thermometer register- 
ing 49 of frost (Fahr.). Sledging on the river, the guiding 

Q 



226 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

poles occasionally penetrated the ice, and where the current 
was exceptionally fast was open water. It is a curious fact 
that in places the upper waters of the Tim, with a tem- 
perature of 40 to 50 below zero, do not freeze, and here 
comes the whiteheaded eagle (Halietus albicillus) to fish. 
In fact the Gilyaks call the month of February Cham4ong y 
or eagle month, as they name March Karr-long, or crow 
month. 

The day following our arrival at the petroleum well we 
essayed to continue northwards, to visit the oil-lakes on 
the Nutovo river. Retracing our steps to our canoe, we 
started with our crew to go round by the bay, intending to 
ascend the river. However, we had gone but five miles 
when "white horses," or as the Russians say, "white 
sheep," were descried ahead. We were loth to be 
baulked by a storm, and ignored the protestations of our 
crew until the waves, threatening to swamp the canoe, 
forced us to desist from our purpose, and reluctantly turn 
back from attempting to penetrate farther along the north- 
eastern coast than any white man had hitherto done. For 
seven miles our " bark " was driven before the storm, but 
our skilful " captain," with his paddle, kept us from drifting 
broadside. Wetted through to the skin we landed once 
more at the mouth of the Boatassin. Here we were met 
by two or three Orochons, with a message of welcome from 
the headman of the village of New Val, across the bay. 

Pushing on once more to the hut, we spent that night 
with our hospitable hosts, and the next morning were 
accompanied by them on land and sea as far as the village 
of New Val. Time would not allow of my pressing on 
further to the north ; there were no natives to be met 
with, nor could we at this time of the year get our Gilyaks 
to consent to delay their return longer; already we had 
overstayed our time, and we found on reaching the Bay of 
Ni, two days later, that our river crew were on the point of 
departing without us. 



CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 227 

On our way through the forest one of our hosts led me 
aside to seek the site of an unwritten tragedy. Search- 
ing for some time in different directions, and hallooing to 
one another, we at last hit upon it. What we saw is pic- 
tured in our illustration — a rude Russian cross made from 
three stakes. The story, though unrecorded in the pages 
of history, was clearly revealed on the spot. A small band 
of brodyagi y pushed hard by soldiers, and perhaps attracted 
by the presence of the prospectors' stores, had found their 
way as far north as this. They had managed to exist on 
reindeer, and one of their number must have fallen ill, as 
was evidenced by their staying a long time, a dangerously 
long time in one place. For they had been here long 
enough to consume several reindeer, obviously, from the 
quantity of antlers and bones, and the little footpath worn 
in the forest. Their sick companion may possibly have 
been injured in an encounter with a bear, or more probably 
had fallen ill owing to exposure ; in either case he had 
lingered until dying they buried him in the taiga, neglect- 
ing not to raise the protecting "f over the grave of their 
poor outcast brother. It was a story as melancholy and 
pessimistic as any from the pen of a Russian novelist, but 
here Providence and Nature had been the writers. 



CHAPTER XIII 
WITH THE "CHAM" AT CHAIVO 

An "inter-continental" boat-race — The Cham and the Shaman — 
Exorcising the evil spirit — Why the Gilyaks are without written 
characters — The journeys of a soul after death — Strange rites at 
the funeral pyre. 

AT the mouth of the Boatassin river was a canoe 
from the Orochon village of New Val, and our 
hosts, the prospectors, getting into this with a 
native to steer, challenged us to a race. It was Gilyak 
versus European, and I doubt if the five versts across 
Chaivo Bay, from the mouth of the Boatassin to the 
village of New Val, have ever been covered in faster time. 
The tide had turned, and it was with considerable diffi- 
culty that the less shallow channels were found and 
navigated ; but this accomplished, all put their backs into 
the work. There were no crowds of spectators watching 
the great struggle between Europe and Asia, none of the 
old familiar shouts from the tow-path, with all manner 
of musical (?) instruments, nor the well-known cries from 
the "coach," nor the hoarse, "One — two — three" of the 
cox. Europe had a smaller canoe, no baggage, and a 
cox only, beside her two oarsmen ; but she was handi- 
capped with two oars only. Asia had a longer canoe, two 
passengers with six or seven puds of baggage, beside 
her cox and two oarsmen ; but then she had two pairs of 
sculls going. 

Our Gilyak crew entered into the fun with great 

228 



WITH THE "CHAM" AT CHAIVO 229 

enthusiasm. We — that is, Asia — had got a start in clear- 
ing the network of channels, and managed to hold our 
own for half the race. Europe, however, came steadily 
on, hand over hand, until both were level. Then, taking 
advantage of their cox's knowledge of the approach to his 
village, they swept round and landed, while Asia's crew 
were still hesitating where to beach their boat. 

After all, this is but an allegory of the racial struggle 
for existence between the native and the white man. The 
Gilyak on Sakhalin has had a lead by two or three cen- 
turies, but he has already been far outnumbered, and will 
surely die out with the further inroad of the European. 
The chief causes of the dying out of the natives is disease, 
the narrowing limits of their hunting-ground, the decay 
of the spirit of the race, and their inability to adapt 
themselves to another mode of living which is gradually 
but surely being forced upon them. The Government's 
attitude towards them is a " correct " one. It recognizes 
them as Russian subjects, interferes as little as possible 
with their scant organization, and prohibits the sale of 
intoxicants to them. What is really required now, but 
hardly to be expected from officials whose function is the 
safeguarding of criminals, is a patriarchal government 
which shall interest itself in the race and its changing 
conditions. 

If there were more friends of the Gilyaks like Mr. 
Pilsudski, who was a political exile on the island, they 
indeed might yet be saved from extinction. He recog- 
nized that their means of livelihood, hunting and fishing, 
were beginning to fail them, and therefore endeavoured 
to induce those who dwelt near the Russian settlements to 
cultivate potatoes and to salt fish. To the natives utterly 
unused to it, the work was extraordinarily exhausting ; 
and one gave it up after two hours because "his back 
ached," while others eagerly sought permission to eat 
the seed potatoes ! I fear, unaided and not followed up, 



230 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

his efforts have failed, though after a great amount of 
persuasion he got several puds sown. 

After being welcomed by the starosta of New Val, and 
introduced to the "belles" of the Orochons, whose rare 
beauty left much to be desired in our humble and un- 
educated opinion ; we were ushered into a hut where not 
only were fish-skins spread for us, but to our surprise two 
pieces of handsome Chinese silk brocade. To tread with 
our great dirty boots upon these was out of the question, 
so, turning up a corner, we sank on to the fish-skins 
beneath. I leave the reader to picture the oddness of the 
contrast between pale blue and gold brocade and smoked 
fish, greasy timbers, and dirt-encrusted forms around. 

The explanation of its presence here was a prospective 
Russian church, of which this was intended to be the 
altar-cloth. Very prospective, I should imagine. It was 
said that a Russian priest had visited Chaivo Bay four 
years previously, and had collected 489 rubles for the 
building of the church, but, so far, they had nothing but a 
handbell. I believe Sakhalin has been rid of the presence 
of this pope, whose true mission, by all accounts, appeared 
to have been to gather sable-skins. A priest comes once 
a year in winter during the hunting season, to a central 
spot of the island, generally Ado Tim (about 250 miles 
distant by river), and word is sent to the headmen of the 
Orochons. Of those who respond, some receive the Com- 
munion, or hear the Burial Service read for members 
of the family deceased during the previous year. The 
summons, however, is not liked, since, as is the custom 
in the Russian Church, the rites must be paid for, and the 
Orochons find themselves relieved of many sable-skins. 

Russians declared to me that the priest brought vodka 
and traded for skins. The accusation, I fear, was true ; 
and the excuse that he was poorly paid, a very lame one 
in extenuation of a crime punishable by law. Of course 
he was not alone in yielding to the temptation to use such 



WITH THE "CHAM" AT CHAIVO 231 

an unfailing key to riches as bartering vodka with the 
natives. 

That no interest should have been taken by the priests 
in the natives, other than for the sake of gain, is most 
regrettable ; but in judging them we must remember that 
they are not missionaries, nor even parish priests, but 
practically in the position of prison or military chaplains. 
It would be as reasonable to blame the chaplain of a 
regiment stationed, say, at Bombay, for not doing mission- 
ary work in India, as these priests in Sakhalin. As for 
their relation to their own flock, we shall see something 
of that when we come to my stay at Alexandrovsk. 

Leaving the Orochon village of New Val, we rowed 
over in a south-easterly direction to the Gilyak settlement 
of Chaivo, situated on the northern side of the strait which 
here gives entrance to the sea. This was a village of some 
size, for there were about thirty canoes drawn up on the 
beach, and the population was said to number about a 
hundred. Landing here, we were taken to see the bear 
in its cage, two captive foxes, which were being bred for 
their skins, and three large white-tailed eagles tethered to 
corners of a log structure. Magnificent birds they were, 
whose great powerful wings and formidable beaks looked 
as if they should have won them freedom ere this. They 
had been captured when young, and were the contents of 
a nest robbed after the mother bird had been shot. The 
natives were rearing them with a view to selling their 
tails to the Japanese. 

From the first meeting with the Gilyaks I had made 
inquiries as to where I could find a cham, or " medicine- 
man" of the tribe. I was anxious to do so, because I 
hoped to learn from him more than I could from the 
Gilyak " man-in-the-street," or rather, " man-in-the-canoe." 
All the replies had indicated the village of Chaivo as the 
residence of their cham. On reaching New Val, which 
was close by, I thought it prudent to make inquiries if 



232 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

the great man were at home. The answer was in the 
affirmative. Arrived at Chaivo, however, I was informed 
he had gone to New Val. This would not do. I suspected 
evasion, and therefore put my foot down and insisted 
on our crew going to fetch him. This had the desired 
effect, and, shortly after, a man of about thirty or thirty- 
five, of less wild appearance than the others — in fact, a 
rather mild-looking individual — came hesitatingly towards 
us. I offered him a few tobacco-leaves, and to disarm 
his suspicions, for the natives are shy of talking about 
their religion, explained through the interpreters that I 
was a friend of the Gilyaks, and that I had come a great 
way from over the sea and would like to know about 
them and their forefathers. 

The traveller, in his wanderings, too soon loses the 
novelty and strangeness of his environment, and it is 
seldom after the first blush that he does not take things 
as they come, without surprise. It is a useful habit, and 
saves much trouble, but there are occasions when he is 
transported in thought to his home and friends, and 
awakens with a shock to his present surroundings. It 
was such a moment now, this meeting with the Gilyak 
chain, and perhaps in giving the scene as it appealed to 
me, I may succeed in transporting the reader for one 
moment to that far-away spot. 

It was evening, and we were squatted on the sand- 
dune dividing the bay before us from the Pacific, which 
was rolling in its great booming breakers hard by. A 
glorious sunset met our gaze westward, angry masses of 
black cloud were fired by reddening rays as they gathered 
behind the distant blue mountains, between which and us 
stretched vast forests. It was a Sunday evening, and 
calm as an English village scene, but yet how different. 
By what a gulf were we separated from the civilized world. 
Between us and England lay impenetrable forests, the 
home of the bear, and the escaped convict armed and 



WITH THE "CHAM" AT CHAIVO 233 

desperate with starvation. Only by days and days of 
punting up rapids could these forests be passed, followed 
by weeks before the mainland could be reached, and then 
there remained the whole of snow-bound Siberia to be 
crossed. Around us were squatted swarthy natives, pig- 
tailed and unwashed, women and children strangely clad, 
adorned with hoops in their ears and fish-knives at their 
belts. Our supper of fish was spitted before the fire. The 
strange figures gathered closer round us, dogs as well, as 
we talked of the Gilyak ancestors, the gods of their fathers, 
and the home of their departed ones ; they wondering the 
while why the white men from a strange land should want 
to know these things. Could we be ignorant of what was 
common knowledge, or were we laughing at them ? 

After preliminary politenesses, I began by asking the 
cham — 

" Has your father, or your father's father, ever told you 
anything about the place whence the earliest Gilyaks 
came ? " 

"No. They came from over there," pointing to the 
west, to the mainland, which we know by tradition to 
have been their home. But before he would answer my 
question, he had asked me — 

" How is it the Russians have come here, and why do 
they live in big villages and not in the forest ? " 

What a revelation of a totally different economic world 
was here ! Surely a question suitable for the new Economic 
Tripos at Cambridge. 

The complexity of our economic life, the interdepen- 
dence of country upon country — nay, hemisphere upon 
hemisphere — the vast network of communication in the 
civilized world upon which it was based, how could I, in 
a few words, make this member of a primitive tribe 
understand ? 

These " children of the forest," who found their food, 
their clothing, their homes, even their gods provided 



234 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

therein, how was it possible for them to conceive of any 
other conditions of existence? Tradition even claimed 
that the Orochons had sprung from a male and female 
birch tree. 

" How could we live together in towns, and yet manage 
to catch enough fish in the neighbourhood for the winter's 
store ; and shoot sufficient animals to provide the skins 
wherein to clothe ourselves ? " 

I leave the reader to fill up the picture, and imagine 
the respectable citizens of London, clad in skins, streaming 
forth to St. John's Wood, to hunt the bear and reindeer, 
or, deftly balanced on the prows of their dug-out canoes, 
spearing salmon and harpooning seals in the "pellucid 
waters " of the Thames at London Bridge. 

I put many questions to the cham, but they were 
scarcely answered satisfactorily ; either he was not as 
intelligent as we had hoped, or else, for fear of being 
laughed at, he was beating about the bush. The Gilyaks 
themselves declared, "We have no great cham now. We 
had one. He died last winter. He was great indeed ! 
If a man wanted to fish, and there was no wind to drive 
in the fish, he went to the cham and fell on his knees, and 
immediately his prayer was granted, and the wind began 
to blow." His successor, indeed, claimed the power of 
being able to locate a bear. " When the Gilyak wants to 
find one," he told us, " I hear a voice of the spirit, saying, 
1 There is a bear in the forest,' and I go into the forest, and 
there I discover a bear." 

The cham of the Gilyaks resembles, in many respects, 
the shaman of the Oroktis, the Golds, and the Tungus 
on the mainland. Both are addicted to superstitious 
practices ; but the primary function of the cham would 
appear to be the judicial executive, and for that purpose 
he is elected. He it is who pronounces sentence in the 
criminal "court" of elders, and afterwards carries it out. 
Legally these were the limits of his function ; but 




A TUNGUS "shaman." [To face page 235. 



WITH THE "CHAM" AT CHAIVO 235 

actually his moral influence does not stop there, and the 
criminal's fate largely depends upon him. Probably he 
was chosen because the death of a murderer, though 
necessary in olden times, was much against the grain of 
the kindly, jolly Gilyaks ; and the cham, with his powers 
of exorcism, could clear himself of any sin which they 
involuntarily felt must attach to the killing of a human 
being. The penalty of death now no longer obtains, but 
is commuted in practice to a fine. 

The shaman, on the other hand, is not chosen, but 
wins his position by force of character and in face of no 
little ridicule. If he succeeds, he becomes the Oracle of 
the tribe. To him come those who want to know where 
a lost article is to be found, what the catch of fish will be 
next season, or how to avoid impending misfortune. But 
it is as a healer of sickness and exorciser of evil spirits 
that he is in most request. Mr. V. P. Margaritov, in a 
monograph on the Oroktis (translated by Mr. M. F. A. 
Fraser *), has given a vivid description of the performance 
of a shaman in the district of the Primorsk. He first 
proceeded to dress himself in the style of my illustra- 
tion. A petticoat was tied round his waist, and from this 
depended a remarkable collection of " mineral wealth/' in 
the shape of metal bells, steels (flint and steel), metal 
discs, chains, portions of tin pots, and scraps of iron. 
The dress that I saw seemed to me to represent a collec- 
tion of curios, from the point of view of the Orokti, in the 
amassing of which civilized countries — chiefly England, 
and Birmingham for preference — had been ransacked for 
their domestic utensils. The head-dress consisted of the 
antler of a deer, and depending from it again bells, rings, 
and plates of metal and rags. In fact, I could not better 
describe the sjiaman, so arrayed, than as a peripatetic 
kitchen-midden. Having burnt grass in his hut until there 
was a stifling, blinding smoke, he took a reindeer-skin 

* Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, China Branch, 1894. 



236 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

tambourine in his hand, and, going to the entrance, 
announced the shaman fit. Then he began howling, 
emitting mysterious noises, whirling wildly round the 
smoke-filled hut, beating the tambourine and himself, 
until, exhausted by this maniacal conduct, he hurled him- 
self on the couch. The awed onlookers then awaited with 
expectation the revelation on the following day. 

Being anxious to know what claims the chain had to 
healing power, I asked him whether he could cure illnesses. 
To which he replied, " If a child or person is ill, I, the 
cham i pray and make offerings of tobacco to the lord of 
fire and cast some rice or tea out of the door to the 
spirits (of the forest and water). There is one god — 
Nature," he added, " and we offer to fire at one time and 
to water and the forest at others." But the whole cere- 
mony of a cure is well worth a description. 

If a Gilyak is so ill that all domestic resources fail, 
then the cham is sent for. He arrives, followed by one 
of the elder representatives of the hut, who has been 
told off to show honour and courtesy to the healer. 
An inspection of the patient is generally sufficient for 
him to determine whether the sufferer will recover or no ; 
but before he decides upon his measures, the cham tries 
to find out from the relatives what the patient has been 
doing prior to his illness. Then he tells them that the 
evil spirit is angry with the sick man, and has sent this 
illness as a punishment ; but he will speak to the spirit 
about it, and ask him how his anger may be appeased. 
Nothing, however, can be done before the evening, for 
the element in which the spirit lives is the night. 

When the sun has set, the cham appears, and drives out 
of the hut all unnecessary persons, and proceeds to place 
upon his head a band of birch bark, with three little 
rustling rosettes of papery bark lining. These, it is said, 
are to aid him in the expulsion of the evil spirit from the 
sick one ; but are more probably to enhance the mystery 



WITH THE "CHAM" AT CHAIVO 237 

and authority of the exorcist. He then places in the 
corner of the hearth three little bowls, containing respec- 
tively fish, tobacco, and roots ; and close to these, two 
wooden images, cJikhnai, bound together back to back ; 
one having the face of a laughing man, and the other 
that of a weeping woman. The cKkhnai are there to 
provide something for the evil spirit to enter, when he 
leaves the body of the sick man. Note here how clever 
the cham is. He so places the ch'khnai that the image 
of the weeping woman faces the cups containing the food ; 
and the evil spirit, summoned from the body of the patient 
by exorcism and attracted by delicacies, naturally enters 
into the image so placed ; and, having taken this form, will 
be himself kind-hearted and weak as a weeping woman. 
The good spirit is then exorcised, and takes refuge in the 
other image ; where he becomes jolly and strong as a 
laughing man, especially when the cham draws nearer to 
him one of the bowls of food. 

The evil and good spirits finding themselves in close 
proximity, begin to fight ; but there is never any doubt 
of the result, for victory must be to the stronger — the 
good spirit. Then commence negotiations between the 
cham and the evil spirit as to how much or what offering 
he will accept to keep away from the sick man. 

During all these exorcisms and negotiations the hut 
has been the scene of an awe-inspiring spectacle. While 
the sick man lay on the nakh, or bench, the cham has 
been whirling round the hut, beating the kos-cha, a fish- 
skin tambourine, uttering all manner of strange sounds, 
and quickening his wild gyrations in order to prevent the 
escape of the evil spirit from his reach. By the time of 
the combat of the good and evil spirits, the wild dance 
has reached its climax ; and when negotiations commence, 
the cham is in an ecstatic state. His exorcisms are begun 
in almost a whisper, and to the slow-measured strokes of 
the tambourine. He improvises his prayers, conforming 



238 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

them to the circumstances ; and by degrees working himself 
into an ecstasy, he babbles with hoarse voice, howls, and 
even shrieks. From the great strain his voice sometimes 
cracks ; but he draws off attention, and with amazing 
dexterity whirls around in the semi-darkness, his feet 
appearing to leave the ground as his wild circlings in the 
air increase and the flames leap in answering flickerings 
to his wild springings. Black shadows fitfully race over 
the walls of the hut, and quicker and quicker grow the 
wild howls and the thuds of the tambourine. The hearts 
of the spectators sink with fright, and even the most 
sceptical of the Gilyaks is involuntarily bewitched. 

The eyes of the cham are like flames ; he foams at 
the mouth, and sings the orders of the evil spirit — 

" Take two great dogs, 
One black, 
The other white ; 
Kill these two offerings 
There, 

Where is kept the bear ; 
That will make the sick man well." 

The first syllable in each line is articulated quickly, and 
the last vowels in the line slowly, merging into a howl* 

If the cham is angry with the sick man, or has any 
spite against him or his relatives, he may ruin the whole 
family by his interpretation of the spirit's demands, forcing 
them to bring all their dogs and everything that they 
value most. It is even said that in olden times human 
offerings were demanded. 

On the following day, the head of the hut takes the 
offerings, and goes as quickly as possible to the village 
appointed where the bear is, even if it be a hundred miles 
away. There he kills the dogs near the cage of the bear, 
takes out the heart and liver and casts them in the forest 
to the east, and sings, "Make so that the sick man may 

* Each line in the Gilyak original is made to end in a — aa. 



WITH THE "CHAM" AT CHAIVO 239 

be quite well." The offering is made near the bear because 
the evil spirit is a great friend of the bear, and therefore 
is to be found near at hand. 

The cham having been liberally rewarded for his pains, 
the matter is ended. 

One old Gilyak in reply to my question as to what 
happened if the patient died, said, with stoical submissive- 
ness, "We make offerings, and if the child recovers, it 
is well ; but if the spirit does not restore it, it is well 
also." 

The Gilyaks explain the visitation of disease in this 
way. The sick man must have offended the good spirit 
kiskh, who thereupon deserts him and leaves him in the 
power of the evil spirit The offering made to the latter 
is a bribe, whereby the sufferer coaxes the evil spirit to 
quit him. 

The Gilyak makes no offering to kiskh, the creator, 
the great spirit, the god of the moral world, for he does 
not know where he is ; in fact, so vague is his notion of 
him that it can only be said to exist in his mind as a 
nebulous conception. With regard to the position of the 
cham, the evil spirit cannot but be angry at the trick he 
has been played, and the want of respect paid to him ; 
but we need not be anxious for the healer, since he is 
secure in his knowledge of many exorcisms. 

His moral influence among his tribe is certainly losing 
ground, as the Gilyaks come more into contact with the 
Russians. One of them said to a Russian, " A cham tells 
very many lies." 

" Then why do you call him in ? " 

" He is needed. If he got angry it would be bad for 
us," was the answer. 

It is true that it may result badly for the Gilyak, not 
because the cham can cause the divine anger to fall upon 
his head ; but when the Gilyak has a misunderstanding, 
or is accused of crime, the cham may remember his 



240 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

omission or insult, and as he has the last word, he can 
make the punishment very severe. 

Among the group of strange folk squatted on the beach 
by the fading light of the day, was a particularly intelligent 
elder, who had evidently seen more of the Russians than 
any of the others. He had overheard the first question 
which I had put to the cham about the home of his fore- 
fathers, and in an impressive way he exclaimed, " How 
can I tell ? Neither my father nor my father's father 
could write, and therefore they have left me no writing 
to tell, and even if they had, I cannot read ; hence how 
can you expect me to know ? " 

The Gilyaks have no written language, but they have 
a legend to account for the want of it. I learnt it from 
one of their number, Imdin by name, the only Sakhalin 
Gilyak known to have been brought up and educated by 
the Russians. He is an intelligent youth, and had been 
sent to a school at Vladivostok, where I met him in 
the charge of a political exile, to whom he owed nearly 
everything. 

" The legend current among my tribe," he said, with a 
smile, " tells how a Gilyak and a Chinaman were talking 
together one day on the shore. The former was showing 
his books and letters (characters) to the latter, when most 
unfortunately a great wind arose, and blew away all the 
letters save five ; and to complete this great catastrophe, 
when the Gilyak's back was turned the Chinaman meanly 
made off with the small remnant." 

The Ainus have a not dissimilar legend, in which, 
according to one version, their letters and records were 
stolen by their guest from Japan, while they were yet 
recovering from after-dinner effects. Dr. Laufer * gives 
the Gilyak legend in another form. He says, " The first 
living man and his wife had forty-seven sons and forty- 
seven daughters. The forty-seven sons married their 
* American Anthropologist, April to June, 1900. 



WITH THE "CHAM" AT CHAIVO 241 

sisters. The legend runs that they once received some 
white paper from the god Taighan,* and so were able to 
write. One day when they returned home from hunting, 
they could not understand one another, and talked in 
forty-seven different languages. Seven of the brothers 
remained in the country ; the other forty built canoes and 
sailed out beyond the sea, carrying along the papers con- 
taining their records. On the way they were separated, 
and twenty of them encountered a heavy rain-storm, in 
which their papers got wet. After a long trip these twenty 
reached the shore. They prepared a meal, and spread the 
papers out on the beach to dry, but suddenly it began to 
thunder and lighten, and sad to relate their annals were 
utterly destroyed. The Gilyaks and Tungusian tribes 
are the descendants of those brothers who lost their 
papers and forgot the art of writing. The other twenty 
brothers, favoured by good weather, brought their written 
treasures safely into a new country, and became the 
ancestors of the Chinese and Japanese, who are still able 
to write." 

" This tradition," adds Dr. Laufer, " points to the 
fact that the Gilyaks regard themselves as closely re- 
lated to the Tungusians, and also the Chinese and 
Japanese." 

Our talk then drifted on to the passing of mortals into 
the next world, and the elder made a rather remarkable 
statement ; but I was not sure then, nor am I now, as to 
how much of the form of it was due to the interpreter, 
who in this case was unfortunately not Mr. X., on whose 
accuracy and appreciation of the points raised, I could 
always depend. 

He said, " When a man dies, he does not change. He 
has ears, eyes, nose, hands, and heart just as before, and 
only his spirit is missing. If this were to come back the 
man would be alive. Therefore, I believe the spirit lives, 

* Perhaps by this is meant the god of the taiga, i.e. Palnivookh. 

R 



242 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

if not here then elsewhere. I expect to see my father, 
but where I cannot say." Our "captain" Yungkin de- 
clared that when his father died his grandfather came in 
the fire and took him, and Yungkin waited in expec- 
tation of his father coming for him in the same way. 
A pretty touch, and a belief with no small power of 
consolation. 

In talking of their departed, they never called them by 
their name. That would be uich> i.e. unlucky, ill-omened. 
Filial piety as among the Chinese is a cardinal virtue, and 
the elder before us was no exception to the rule. He had 
killed no less than ten dogs at his father's funeral pyre, his 
father being a well-to-do man, and therefore it was neces- 
sary for his spirit to travel with an honourable cortege in 
the next world. 

If a Gilyak dies in the winter, it is usual to wrap 
the body in bark and keep it, which is an easy matter 
in this frost-bound world, until the breaking up of 
winter, when the ceremonies may more easily be carried 
out. 

Let me describe, first, the rites observed on the death of 
a woman, premising that with this, as with many other of 
the more curious customs I describe, there is a difference 
in detail among tribes (of Gilyaks), and even between one 
khal (clan) and another. Where the khal has been much 
influenced by Russian contact there is considerable modi- 
fication. With some of the latter, such is the influence 
of example that the natives are giving up cremation for 
burial. 

Four garments — short-skirted frocks — are placed upon 
the corpse of the woman. Only the best may be selected, 
and in case of a "wealthy" Gilyak the rare Chinese 
brocade, I have mentioned, will be used. Over all the 
corpse is robed in a shuba. The reason of the four gar- 
ments is this. The spirit of the dead woman must appear 
before each of the gods or lords in turn, Tol ni vookh, the 



WITH THE "CHAM" AT CHAIVO 243 

lord of the water (sea and rivers) ; Pal ni vookh, the lord 
of the forest ; Tur ni vookh, the lord of fire ; and Kiskk, 
the judge of good and evil ; and as her duty on earth was 
to keep the hearth, i.e. look after the fire, so Tur ni vookh 
is her most intimate deity. Since she must appear before 
each one, and the road is long and difficult, four dresses 
are necessary, as one only suffices for a journey, and she 
must not appear before the god in torn garments. Of 
course, if the family of the deceased is poor, the god will 
overlook that little want of delicacy ; but woe to the light- 
minded members of a rich family, if they omit to place 
four garments on their dead. She and her kindred will 
indeed have a bad time ; her life in the next world will be 
poverty-stricken even as she has shown herself in miserable 
condition, and her kindred will suffer many misfortunes 
from the hands of those gods whose majesty has been 
insulted. 

For four days the corpse of the dead woman lies on the 
nakh of the hut, and during this time her soul pays visits 
to the four gods, renders an account of her earthly life, and 
receives instructions for the life after death. All her 
kindred must come together and not leave the hut during 
this period, and with all their powers they strive to call to 
mind and loudly recite all the virtues of their deceased 
kinswoman. This is done in order to prompt her spirit, 
lest her etherealized self should omit some of them in its 
viva voce. The lord of fire, as the junior god, serves in this 
case as messenger, and is therefore strictly kept going in 
all his force. 

Crying and loud talking fill the hut. The mourners 
loose their hair from the pigtails, and all vie with each 
other in showing their abandonment of pleasure. Luxuries 
are eschewed, pipes are broken in pieces, and the tobacco 
is allowed to fall out. 

If the deceased be a man, similar ceremonies are gone 
through, but as he is not the maintainer of the hearth, he 



244 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

has to give an account of his doings to three gods only ; 
and therefore his body requires only three garments, and 
lies in the hut but three days. As with the woman, over 
the other garments is worn a shuba ; for their spirits have 
not yet gained that supernatural capacity which defies the 
elements, and warm raiment is necessary on their long 
journeys. 

At the end of the lying-in-state, i.e. on the fifth day for 
the woman and on the fourth for the man, the corpse is 
taken out of the hut and laid on a narta, a sledge drawn 
by a team of dogs. The shuba is taken off, for although 
the soul has not yet its divine faculties, the journeys have 
been made, and it is no longer needed. These are now 
to be gained by purification. 

At this juncture some of the followers leave the crowd 
and run quickly to the cemetery, which every village 
possesses in the secluded depths of the forest, in a spot 
quite impossible for a stranger to find. There on a site 
chosen by the family, a funeral pyre is built of cleanly 
stripped sticks of the height of a man. It is of diamond 
shape, with the ends of the sticks projecting, and eight 
layers in height. On the top are more dried sticks, moss, 
twigs, and larch chips. At a few feet from the pyre these 
friends of the family hastily construct with planks of 
wood a little hut-like building called a raff, about two 
and a half feet long, broad and high, with a sloping roof. 
This little structure has a hole in the side, or a little 
door, which looks towards the pyre. Great haste has to 
be made, for they are anxious to finish their work before 
the procession arrives, and therefore they use material 
which has been prepared by the friends of the dead 
beforehand. 

To erect the raff for the reception of the soul of the 
deceased before the divine sanction has been given would 
be an insult to the gods ; therefore the followers wait until 
the cortege is about to start. The journeys to the gods 



WITH THE "CHAM" AT CHAIVO 245 

have been duly made, and the soul is now ready, and only 
awaits the purification by fire, which shall assure to it 
divine capacities. 

The cortige is followed by a crowd of kindred and 
acquaintances, with dishevelled hair, loudly crying and 
weeping tears of sincerity or convention. They vie with 
each other in enumerating the virtues of their dead 
comrade, hoping thereby to gain his protection. 

The corpse is placed on the pyre ready for cremation, 
and all is now ready save the fire, which must be procured 
in a special manner. In memory of the earliest traditional 
methods of obtaining it, flint and steel may not be used, 
nor of course the Russian, or rather Japanese, matches. 
A pointed stick is inserted in a hole made in a piece of 
plank placed on the ground. Four men take each an end 
of a thong attached to and twisted round the stick, and 
pull it. This rotates, generates friction, and ignites the 
dried tinder placed in close proximity. The top of the 
stick is steadied by pressing on it a flat piece of wood, or 
if need be a Gilyak applies his chest. Torches are lighted, 
and fire is applied to the pyre, first by the widow, if the 
deceased leave one. 

As the flames lick up the pyre, the soul takes refuge 
in the raff through the hole or opened door, thence to 
emerge later and begin its long journey to that other 
world village of Mligh-vo, which the Amur Gilyaks say 
is in the centre of the earth, but the Sakhalin Tro and 
Tim Gilyaks say is " There " — pointing to the east — " where 
the sun rises." 

Since it is necessary that the spirit of the deceased shall 
travel as he was accustomed on earth, the spirits of the 
dogs, the sledge, etc., must all be released. The dogs, 
in number according to the wealth of the departed, are 
all killed, being strangled or beaten to death. The sledge 
is broken, and so are also his spear (kakk), his bow {punch), 
and his arrows (ku) y and quiver (kk'm), or if the deceased 



246 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

be a woman, then her ear-rings (inestch), rings (koi-ba), and 
her fish-knife (ungu-dzhakho). All these articles will be 
needed by the deceased in the future life ; but they must 
be broken in order to finish their earthly existence, and 
to give release to their spirits. Every object has its 
soul, which resembles it. This is set free in the case of 
inanimate objects only on being broken, and is then used 
by the soul of the deceased. To burn them is not to be 
thought of, because they cannot have that honour done 
them. 

Camping out on the banks of the river Tim in the 
forest, we were casting around one night for fuel, when 
Mr. X. came upon a bit of shaped board which he was 
about to throw on the fire, when Vanka stopped him, 
crying out, " No, no ! Uich, uich ! It is a piece of a 
Gilyak canoe." Purification by fire is reserved only for 
the human being. The dogs are not shot, nor are their 
throats cut, for if any of them had his skin broken he 
would appear in the next world with this grave personal 
defect. 

The ashes of the cremated corpse are gathered together 
and put into a coffin-like box (paff), and buried on the 
site of the fire. Sometimes, as on the mainland, the ashes 
are buried beneath a hole in the floor of the raff, A stick 
with pieces of the garments of the deceased is stuck into 
the ground by the raff, and serves apparently as memorial 
to the kindred, and perhaps as a landmark for the return 
of the soul of the departed. 

In front of the hole or door of the raff are raised two 
poles and a cross-piece, an erection resembling a miniature 
goal-post, and on the cross-bar are hung all manner 
of provisions, tobacco, etc., for the use of the soul of 
the deceased on its long journey. I have two wooden 
boxes — one cylindrical and the other rectangular in 
shape, interestingly carved with scroll pattern, albeit 
very smelly — which originally hung at such a grave, 



WITH THE "CHAM" AT CHAIVO 



247 



containing rice, fish, etc., and a pair of wooden chop- 
sticks. All these provisions are covered with pieces of 
bark to protect them from the ravages of birds and wild 
animals. 







CHAPTER XIV 
NIVO 

The powerful Tol ni vookh — Avi fauna — The great sea-holiday — The 
Black Killer — Fish in "posts" — The Grand Old Beggar — A "great 
city " — The " Lord Mayor " — Polygamy — An elopement — Gilyak 
maiden's song — A scorned lover — Curious marriage ceremony — 
Causes of the decrease of the Gilyaks. 



M 



ENTION has been made of four gods — the lords 
of the forest, sea, and fire, and the creator, or 
judge of right and wrong ; but these do not 
exhaust the whole polytheistic conception of the Gilyak. 
They are his nearest protectors, the most intimate among 
a crowd who are too numerous to maintain communica- 
tions with. The sun, moon, and stars each has its ni 
vookh, but the Gilyak has no intercourse with them. 

All the four gods are Gilyaks, have wives, wear Gilyak 
garments, and have much in common with men ; in fact, 
they are the Greek gods in Gilyak dress. How strong is 
the belief of the Gilyak in the existence of his gods the 
following talk will show. It is also an illustration of the 
subtlety needed in questioning a native about his religion, 
the mysteries of which he is, as a rule, so reluctant to 
disclose. A Russian asked — 

" How do the Gilyaks catch fish ? and why at one time 
do they catch more, at another time less, and at another 
none at all ? " 

Gilyak. Well, at one time the fish come into the net 

and at another time not. 

248 



NIVO 249 

Russian. That is not the reason. How can a fish go 
by itself into the net ? It would nev,er enter of its own 
accord into the net. You Gilyaks know that it is God 
who sends it there, the God who has created everything 
and lives in the sky. 

Gilyak, No, it is you Russians who don't know. How 
can a god who lives in the sky send into the net the fish 
which live in the water ? No, not in the sky lives the god, 
but in the water. He, the god in the water, has created 
nothing, and only commands the fish, and where he wishes, 
there he sends them. 

Russian. What sort of a god can there be in the water? 
If he is a Gilyak, he will drown. There of course he is 
not, and the Gilyaks only think so in their stupidity ! 

Gilyak. It is untrue. All is untrue what you are 
saying. The Gilyak knows very well. Myself knows. 
There are such (striking) things have happened. A 
Gilyak was drowned in his clothes ; but afterwards he was 
found on the bank without clothes. How do you think 
that came about ? 

Russian, I don't know. Perhaps somebody robbed 
him. 

Gilyak, Hey ! Kaukray ! Nobody had robbed him. 
You yourself don't know. It was done by Tol ni vookh, 
kiskh ! 

Russian. Then why has he done it ? 

Gilyak, Because the Gilyak offended him in something, 
therefore the god has drowned him, and his garments he 
has taken for himself, and the naked corpse he has cast on 
the shore so that all should know that this Gilyak had 
offended the god. May all be frightened to offend the 
powerful Tol ni vookk. 

Our conversation with the cham and the native elder 
on matters terrestrial and celestial had to be cut short, as 
our "captain" had for some time past been impatient 
to start. We had once more to navigate the narrow and 



250 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

shallow passage among the sand-dunes and banks which 
connects the bays of Chaivo and Ni. This could only be 
done at high water at night, and there was but one tide in 
twenty-four hours, hence Yungkin's importunity. Dark- 
ness came on, and muffling ourselves in furs, we lay down 
as best we could in our frail craft, dozing to the sound 
of the lap, lap of the waters. For six hours our natives 
rowed on, until at midnight, when we had sunk into a 
sound sleep, there came a rude awakening. The shallowest 
part of the passage was overpast, rain had begun to descend, 
and there was no alternative but to camp. Yawning and 
stretching we clambered ashore and stamped down the 
coarse rushes. To be suddenly disturbed from a sound 
sleep and plunged into the discomforts of camping in the 
rain on a desolate sandbank was, to say the least, trying 
to the temper, and we discreetly indulged in "profane 
silence." 

Fuel was found with difficulty, and a fire started. We 
had still a modicum of fresh water with us and some brick- 
tea ; and were raising our spirits with the " cup that cheers 
but does not inebriate," when the plash of a paddle sounded 
in our ears. 

We had scarcely reached for our guns when Yungkin 
announced Gilyaks. A party were returning to Chaivo, 
and seeing our fire had stopped for a warm, a pipe, and 
some tea. They joined us around the cheerful blaze, talk- 
ing volubly, and taking some pleasure in pointing out to us 
one of their number, who, they said, had a devil in him. 
He was an idiot, one glance at his face was sufficient to 
determine that, and without showing any violence con- 
tinued to make the strangest contortions. His presence 
completed the weirdness of the scene, this group of un- 
couth figures of a primitive people crouched round a fire 
on a desolate island on a wild night. The madman, who 
was known as " Oto," lived in one of two huts which are 
on the opposite side of the Strait of Chaivo. He was not 



NIVO 251 

allowed to work, but his comrades supplied all his wants, 
for they regarded him as a kind of sacred person singled 
out or set apart by the unseen powers. He was not, 
however, permitted to have a wife. 

The party departed as suddenly as they came, and we 
were left to wrestle unsuccessfully with the elements 
through the night, for the rain persisted in finding its way 
through our poor shelter. The morning brought no 
cheerier prospect, but by 1 1 o'clock, the rain showing signs 
of abating its ardour, we once more prepared to embark. 

The sandy flats and curving shores of the Bay of Ni 
were alive with hundreds of sea-birds. The commonest, 
and most frightened at our approach, were the gulls 
(Larus canus niveus), which winter in Japan. Much bolder 
were the sandpipers, of which the common (Totanus 
hypoleucus), the green (7". ochropus), the wood (T. glareola), 
and the terek species (T. terekia) have been shot in the 
bay, as well as the redshank (T. calidris). Related to 
these, but earlier in migration, for it is said that they winter 
in Australia, are the stint (Tringa subminutd) and his 
red-throated brother (T. ruficollis), the dunlin (T. cinclus) 
and the eastern knot (T. crassirostris). These had made 
their departure, but what drew my particular attention 
was the handsome orange-footed oyster-catcher (Hcema- 
topus osculans) and the turnstone (Strepsilas interpres). 
In our forage for food we had shot one or two common 
snipe (Scolopax gallinago), which was much more in 
evidence than the pintail variety (S. stenura). The terns 
{Sterna Kamchatka and Aleutia) had not yet departed, 
and though the goosander (Mergns merganser) and the 
smew (Mergellus albellus) were not observable, I saw 
specimens of these which had been taken at the mouth 
of the Tim. 

This was a long day .for our oarsmen, who continued, 
with only the intervals of landing at a village or two, until 
9 o'clock at night. At one of these I was just in time 



252 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

to take a snapshot of a family leaving in their canoe to 
make an afternoon call, in other words, to borrow some 
seal-oil and take a cup of (brick) tea. On the gunwale of 
the canoe will be noticed what appears to be an outrigger, 
but is really a Y-piece for resting the seal harpoon in. 
This cham-gash, which is the name the Gilyaks give the 
harpoon, is used on the ice or manipulated from a canoe. 
The sea on the east coast here is frozen in winter for two 
to four versts out, and when this breaks up the great seal- 
hunt commences. The great field of operations is, how- 
ever, in the Straits of Tartary, opposite the mouth of the 
Amur, and a busy scene it is. 

Winter has long reigned over the land. The snow- 
covered taiga, the frozen rivers, and ice-bound sea, have 
been for six or seven months the only outlook. At length 
with spring comes the wind from the mountains driving 
the ice-floes out to sea. Then the Gilyak awaits with 
patience the change in the wind, for he knows that this 
time the ice-floes will be driven shorewards, not empty, 
but laden with many a passenger. In a good year in the 
Straits of Tartary a thousand seals (Phoca vittclina, Gilyak, 
lajigerr) will lie upon the ice sunning themselves, un- 
conscious of any danger. 

On shore preparations are being made for the Chak vi 
hicnch, or Tol vi hunch, i.e. the water or sea holiday ; for 
this is the inauguration of the tolf-an, or summer year. 

Wild men, with raven pigtails and high cheek-bones, 
are bustling about at the mouths of the rivers preparing to 
receive the unsuspecting guests. Last year's provisions 
are all consumed, and the Gilyaks await with suppressed 
excitement the approach of their fat lazy visitors. The 
wind from the sea increases in vehemence, ice-floes seen on 
the horizon are being driven closer and closer to the shore. 
Now they are quite near, forming great glistening fields. 
The whole Gilyak village is alive, the inhabitants running 
about on the swaying white floor quickly taking up 






^ 

c^ 




NIVO 253 

positions, concealing themselves behind the bergs. Each 
one has in his hand a harpoon similar to the fish-spear 
already described on a larger scale. The pole consists of 
five lengths jointed, each 7 metres long, and is therefore 
at full length about 135 feet. The end, to which the 
harpoon is attached by a thong, is ski-shaped, with its end 
bent upwards, the better to thrust into the side of the seal. 
The thong itself is also 135 feet long, to allow the seal 
sufficient play. This great length of weapon enables the 
Gilyak to harpoon his unsuspecting prey at a considerable 
distance. He stealthily approaches his victim, taking 
cover behind the bergs, and placing the harpoon on the 
ice slowly unwinds the thong. By a quick thrust the 
animal is speared, and flings himself frightened into the 
water. In so doing he frees the head of the harpoon from 
the shaft, to which, however, he is now held by the thong. 
His efforts to get away only serve to give the harpoon 
a firmer grip, and the poor animal is hauled in and killed 
by a blow on the head. 

The first catch is collected and left on the shore. To 
take it to their huts to be devoured there would be a 
graceless, greedy thing to do, for there is as yet no divine 
sanction to the domestic use of them. Such a proceeding 
might result in a failure of the seal season, owing to the 
god's anger. No ; the feasting must be done openly, and, 
though at some inconvenience, in full view of the god's 
province. 

On the bank, therefore, fires are kindled ; and the 
flesh of the seals is cooked, and with it is hashed up 
anything left over from the winter's stores. When all 
is prepared the feasting commences, and lasts all day. 
Eating and drinking go on, not only on the banks, but 
in the huts ; at the same time it is strictly observed that 
the pieces of the newly caught seals shall not be brought 
within the hut, nor left scattered about, nor even the blood 
spilled. If the god has allowed seals to be caught, he has 



254 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

permitted them to be consumed only on his premises, i.e. 
the banks. By this courtesy and little attention on the 
part of the Gilyaks, Tol ni vookh will be content, and in 
future will send them abundance of seals and all manner 
of inhabitants of the sea. 

It often happens that by the time of the arrival of the 
seals, the winter stores are quite exhausted, and hunger 
reigns in the village ; nevertheless, the fete must be cele- 
brated with all due ceremony. On the following day the 
whole village turns out, and the family groups begin to 
gather up the "fragments," including the bones, which, 
in deep silence and reverence, are cast into the sea. The 
flesh and fat, boiled or roasted, for the god has plenty of 
raw, are offerings to Tol ni vookh, with the request that 
he will give them permission to use the products of his 
domain, the sea ; and the bones are the thank-offering 
in acknowledgment of the god's goodwill in sending the 
seals and allowing the Gilyaks to open the New Year's 
fete with the due and proper ceremonies. With these 
bones the great Tol ni vookh will make many more seals. 
It would be a sin to scatter the bones to the four winds, 
thus making it more difficult to create for want of material. 
Tol ni vookh would in that case have to recreate entirely, 
whereas, given the bones, he has only to reclothe them 
with flesh, and lo, the seals are complete, alive ! 

The offering is cast into the sea in complete silence, 
because there are many Uichkha rush, or water daimones, 
who, if they should overhear the Gilyak praying, would 
spoil the whole affair, by seizing what was intended for 
the god. 

After the day of the offering, the Gilyak is free to 
follow up the hunt, and so successful is he with his 
harpoon that a canoe of five will sometimes take as many 
as fifty young seals, which will be equally divided among 
them. This continues until a south-west wind drives away 
the ice-floes and their passengers. 



NIVO 255 

In autumn a few seals ascend the river, and these are 
shot by the natives. They follow in the wake of the Salmo 
lagocephalus y or are driven before the attack of the dreaded 
grampus, or black killer {Orca atra). This terrible enemy, 
the largest of the dolphin family, is armed with a for- 
midable dorsal fin, which in the case of the rectipinnia 
species attains to the enormous length of six feet. Not 
content with smaller fry, these terrible wolves of the 
ocean will even attack a large whale, gathering round it 
and gashing its throat and lips, and finally hauling it to 
the bottom of the sea to rise thence with great pieces of 
its flesh in their maws. Even the fierce walrus will crawl 
upon the rocks with its young to be out of the way 
of these voracious creatures ; and when larger prey, 
such as the smaller dolphins or seals are not to be had, 
salmon and smaller fish furnish a meal for this hungry 
animal. 

Hence, before it are driven ashore and up the rivers 
the seals, salmon, smelt, trout, etc., upon which the Gilyak 
lives. It is, therefore, not unnatural that he should look 
upon the "sword dolphin," as the Germans call it, as a 
friend to whom he owes many a successful catch. The 
grampus never meets with a hostile reception from the 
natives, and if his lifeless carcase be cast up on shore, 
rightful honours are paid it. 

It is otherwise with the white fish or white whale 
Delphinapterus leucas) which haunts the mouths of rivers ; 
for his flesh provides a feast for the Gilyaks. From the 
skin, I believe, and certainly from that of the rarer seal 
(Ar otocephalus monteriensis), thongs of several hundred 
feet are obtained by cutting it spirally. These are again 
cut into lengths of about 130 feet, and much prized for 
harpoons, dog harness, and straps generally. 

In the autumn comes also another inhabitant of the 
ocean, the sea-lion (Eumetopias Stelleri). Gazing far out 
to sea, the Gilyak has seen a black point disappearing and 



256 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

re-appearing, and then a second and a third. This is 
enough. He hastens to bring out his apparatus, his nets 
with their floats of burnt wood shaped like the heads of 
sea-lions. These he sets far away from shore, near great 
rocks, while he lurks in his canoe behind them, patiently- 
awaiting results. A little wave breaks lazily on the 
shore, and ripples on the pebbles. The black floats are 
gently rocked, at one moment they appear on the crest, 
at the next in the trough of the wave. Who could 
doubt this to be a herd of sea-lions swimming near the 
pebbles ? The midday sun has heated the surface of the 
water, and beckons the herd outside to a sun-bath on 
shore. Sighting these " comrades," who have preceded 
them in this intention, they swim towards them all un- 
suspectingly. But ere before the first has discovered the 
deception, he is entangled in the net, a canoe shoots rapidly 
from behind the rocks, and a skilful thrust quiets his 
fluttering for ever. 

There are many other inhabitants of the sea and rivers 
which have interest for the Gilyak, especially the smaller 
kinds ; and though to the cold current issuing from the 
Okhotsk Sea is due his severe winter, yet he owes to 
it the large schools of fish which arrive off the coast of 
Sakhalin. They come in such rapid sequence that the 
Russian fishermen say they come in " posts." 

Fish being the staple article of food, the " bread " of 
the Gilyaks, the summer supply is necessarily of great 
importance to them. The winter stores of sun-dried kita 
are generally consumed by December, and then comes 
the hard time for them. Until the arrival of the seals 
in April there is only one other visitant. This is the 
haddock (Gadus ceglefinus y or Vachnya), or in the Gilyak 
tongue, kan-hu If one is sledging along the shore and 
gazes seaward, he will see black specks among the gleam- 
ing ice. They are the figures of men wrapped from head 
to foot in skins, and they are hooking haddock. In their 



3 

^ 



10 




NIVO 257 

hands are sticks with big hooks attached, and the hungry 
and stupid fish coming to the hole made in the ice, and 
grabbing at the hook, is caught. By this means a man 
has been known to catch as many as 300 in a day. 

After the seals arrive the herrings {Clupea harengus)^ 
and then the halibut (Pleuronectes hippoglossus), in Gilyak 
pilencho, which is caught from a boat with a large hook 
baited. The natives allow this powerful fish, which some- 
times weighs over 100 lbs., to drag the boat until, its 
strength exhausted, they haul it in and spear it. 

Trout {Salmo farid) appear now in the rivers, but not 
in large numbers, and the next big catch is of the ide * 
{Idus melanotus). A weir is formed in the river pointing 
up stream. Two lines of wattle are constructed so as to 
form an acute angle, and at the point of meeting is a 
large, long basket. The fish coming up stream find their 
way in, and a Gilyak sitting near the entrance all night 
beats with a mallet or oar, frightening them in and pre- 
venting them from returning. In the morning he fastens 
up the basket, and takes his catch ashore. The smelt 
{Osmerus eperlanus) appears in such quantities that it is 
caught with a hand-net, and simply ladled out of the 
water. The spearing of tYiQ gorbuska {Salmo proteus) and 
kita {S. lagocephalus), the most important fish of all to the 
natives, has already been described. 

Re-embarking at the village whence the family had 
departed for seal-oil, we proceeded southwards for many 
hours. Moonlight was silvering the broadening Bay of Ni, 
and all was still and quiet, save for the passage of a 
solitary canoe of natives returning to their village. Later 
there passed another containing two men of a fresh tribe, 
the Tungus, whose language none of us understood. We 
mutually grunted salutations, though I never saw the 
Gilyaks greet each other, this being quite contrary to the 

* The common ide {Leuciscus idus) is a species of roach {Leuciscus 
rutilus). 

S 



258 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

habits of their neighbours to the south, the Ainus, with 
whom the ceremony is both long and complicated. 

The Tungus are the most nomadic race on Sakhalin, at 
the same time they are the best hunters, and probably the 
cleverest in carving, needlework, and metalwork. Their 
home is the taiga, and with their reindeer and fine hunt- 
ing dogs are sometimes seen following the river course 
or the forest paths made by wild animals. Some of their 
dogs, I was told, would catch three sables in a day, which 
their masters would exchange at Derbensk for a pud of 
gunpowder and a pud of shot. 

Between them and the Gilyaks there are occasional mis- 
understandings, and even the Orochons complain that the 
latter sometimes steal their reindeer, which in view of the 
dispersal of their herds in the forest is quite possible. 

Neighbouring tribes are not in the habit of praising 
each other, and even the citizens of such civilized places as 
Tarascon and Beaucaire did not regard each other with 
affection, if we are to accept Daudet's testimony. In 
Mongolia, as you enter the territory of a fresh tribe, the 
people on learning that you have traversed the country 
of their neighbours, will congratulate you on your 
lucky escape from such a cut-throat race, while you have 
been previously warned in similar terms of your new 
acquaintances. 

" The Tungus," said our Vanka, " are wild people living 
in the forest. They are not hospitable, and do not give 
the Gilyaks food and drink when they call ; " and I believe 
what he said was in the main true. 

The Gilyak expects and finds a welcome almost every- 
where, since he has relations, members of his kkal y at every 
other village. Hospitality is not a virtue, but an obliga- 
tion, and few there are who take unfair advantage of it. 
The guest of to-day may be the host of to-morrow. Those 
who are too aged to hunt are supported by the exertions 
of the younger generation, and even they can slice and 



°3 




3 

^ 
3 

V 
,» 







NIVO 259 

clean fish in the season. There was one notable exception 
to these old people, who did travel, and who having no 
relations nearer than the mainland went about begging. 
Of him the Gilyaks were very much ashamed, and I feel 
almost guilty of a breach of confidence in making public 
this skeleton in their cupboard. His proper name was 
Poeikan, but he can no longer be called by that, for he has 
disgraced it, and so he goes by the title Pillaniitsich, or 
the " Grand Old Beggar." 

That hospitality is not offered to the Gilyaks by the 
Tungus is not surprising, for their relations are consider- 
ably strained. The former accuse the latter of robbing 
their snares, and of setting them on the Gilyaks' hunting- 
grounds. They even declare that while it is dangerous 
to meet a brodyaga man to man, to meet a Tungus is 
certain death. Of course this is only true if there be 
cause of hostility. 

The Tungus told Mr. Sternberg that they despised the 
Gilyaks and Orochons ; and with true Pharisaical scorn 
added, " We are subjects of the Empire, and are baptized 
and christened, but the Gilyaks and Orochons eat dogs." 
It is true that the Gilyaks do eat their dogs, and even 
sables, when driven to it in winter by starvation. 

It was already long past the hour for camping, but our 
" captain's " hopes were set on reaching Nivo. At about 
8.30 p.m. we had passed the Strait of Ni and were opposite 
the spot where the Russian police-officer, now departed, had 
been encamped. As it was so late, I suggested we should 
stop here, but to my amusement Yungkin replied in broken 
Russian to the following effect, " Camp here ! Why, Nivo 
is a great city (balshoy gorod), and there are many doubtful 
characters on the outskirts, Tungus, Orochons and Gilyaks, 
and they might kill you in the night." A half an hour 
later we drew up in front of the " great city " of Nivo, 
consisting of less than two dozen huts, dwellings which 
would be reckoned miserable by the occupants of Irish 



260 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

hovels. At the usual signal, twelve pair of stalwart hands 
were ready to haul up our canoe, and we strode up the 
sands to meet the headman of the village, or, as my inter- 
preter called him, the " Lord Mayor of the city of Nivo." 

The "Mansion House " of the " Lord Mayor of Nivo," 
which I now entered in the usual humble fashion, was 
rather larger than those we had seen hitherto, but in other 
respects exactly similar. Outside, on either side of the 
three-foot doorway, were two broad shelves sheltered by 
an extension of the roof, and containing winter sledges 
and all manner of tackle not required until later in the 
year. Inside was a goodly gathering, some score, of 
Gilyaks, who were to be our sleeping companions that 
night. These comprised the starosta, his two wives, his 
children and relatives, the latter including our Armunka, 
who was a distant cousin. 

The honoured place at the end of the hut, opposite the 
door (the east end it happened to be in this case), was 
reserved for me and my interpreter. Honourable as it 
was, we took the precaution of sprinkling it freely with 
insecticide, a proceeding in no way resented, and probably 
not understood ; but when I came to shake a cloth over 
the fire, I was politely requested to refrain from an act 
derogatory to Tur ni vookk, the lord of that element. 

The importance that fire plays in the life of peoples 
living in sub-arctic or arctic climes cannot be exaggerated. 
It is small wonder, therefore, that the element which pro- 
tects them in winter, and saves them from a diet of raw 
and frozen food, should be elevated to the rank of a deity. 

This protector is also a purifier, and to him they give 
the bodies of their dead. Their loved ones vanish — depart 
invisibly — and so they believe they may also return in- 
visibly. Hence an added sacredness to the hearth. In 
bygone times it was a sin to put out the fire. The 
hostess on going to bed raked a small hole in the ashes, 
and placed there the burning fuel, covering it up with 



NIVO 261 

more ashes. Thus the fire was conserved, and its con- 
tinuity maintained. Even to-day I have seen this done, 
though custom is less strict than it was. It is still a sin to 
take even a spark from the fire outside of the hut, or to go 
out of the hut with a pipe which has been lighted inside. 

The headman of Nivo was counted rich among the 
Gilyaks, his hut being littered with the weapons and pro- 
duce of the chase. There were nets and snares, automatic 
bows and arrows, bear-spears, strangely shaped knives, 
seal-skins, dog-skins, as well as bark baskets, though of 
a ruder make than those of the Orochons. Two other 
objects attracted my special attention, one, a miniature of 
the Tsar Alexander III, and the other, an old double- 
barrelled fowling-piece mounted on a wooden biped, a 
cumbersome affair, but used by these natives and the 
Tungus in the winter hunts. 

My rifle, which happened to be loaded, was a source of 
keen interest, and the starosta, taking it up, began finger- 
ing it, when it went off, fortunately over his shoulder and 
hitting nobody ; but he was so astounded that he flung it 
down, exclaiming, " It has a devil in it ! " 

A greater witness to the wealth of this " Lord Mayor " 
was the possession of two wives. Very few Gilyaks on 
Sakhalin, perhaps two or three others, were wealthy 
enough to have bought more than one wife. Polygamy 
is no longer as common as it was, and this probably for 
two reasons — the decline in the number of women, and the 
growing poverty of the people. There are no adequate 
statistics to which I can appeal in support of the first, but 
evidence of the latter is met with at every turn. The 
only censuses (informal) ever taken were the inquiries 
of Mr. Sternberg in 1891 and 1895, among certain 
villages on the west coast of Sakhalin ; where he found 
that the population had increased from 1041 to 1049 m 
3J years, of which the increase of females was two and 
of males six. 



262 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

The Gilyaks treat their children remarkably well, and 
though a girl is potential wealth, and will " fetch a wedding 
price," the boy as an early bread-winner, or rather fish- 
winner, is naturally of more account. The death-rate 
among young children is, of course, very high. In the 
villages on the west coast, north of Arkovo, Mr. Sternberg 
gives the births in 3 J years as 130, out of which there were 
34 deaths (in addition to 88 deaths among the older 
persons), i.e. an average of more than 26 per cent. The 
chief reason, however, of the decline in polygamy is more 
probably growing poverty. A wife has to be bought, and 
she is a moderately expensive article. Not that she is 
an unremunerative investment, but few Gilyaks are in 
a position to make the capital expenditure. 

Dr. Schrenck, speaking of the Amur Gilyaks whom he 
visited fifty years ago, says their word " to marry " (umgu 
genich) means "to buy a wife," and the value of the 
articles given, such as bear-spears, kettles, boats, and dogs 
amounts to large sums; in one case to as much as 310 
rubles (31 guineas). The Sakhalin Gilyaks are much 
poorer, and give a sledge with a team of dogs, or a 
spear and two pieces of foreign stuffs. Sometimes an 
additional arrangement obtains, where the husband, who, 
unable to pay a handsome price, and in consideration of 
the value of his wife as fish-cleaner and preparer, gives 
his services to his father-in-law as hunter or fisherman 
for one or two days in the season. 

In olden times the Amur Gilyak bought slaves, who 
were mostly Ainu women, but in both these practices of 
polygamy and slavery the desire was not so much to 
possess a harem as to have sufficient domestic help. In 
one case it was to give the loved wife of his old age a 
young and strong assistant. 

The Gilyaks are not an incontinent race, and compare 
very favourably with the Russian population of Sakhalin. 
Of course there are individual exceptions, especially now 



NIVO 263 

that the pressing poverty prevents larger numbers of adult 
males having their own establishments. Yungkin, our 
" captain," had told us the very evening of our arrival at 
Nivo that he was going ashore to steal a wife for the night. 
We asked him if the husband would not object. " Oh, 
perhaps. Yes ; he may slap her, but I shall give him 
some tobacco." It is said that in earlier times cousins 
(ru-er) had the juridic right of collective use of cousins, 
and even of the sisters of cousins, and possibly some faint 
remembrance of this, sanctions the more indiscriminate 
connexion of later days. 

It is true that the wife works very hard, and, as with 
all semi- wild and wild peoples, ages quickly ; yet among 
the Gilyaks she by custom retains a certain independence ; 
and if objecting to her treatment, is free to divorce herself 
and run away to her father, who cannot even be called upon 
to refund the price originally paid him by her husband. 

Mr. Pilsudsky, whom I found to be a great and true 
friend of the Gilyaks, tells how an intelligent member of 
this tribe, whom he knew — one of those appointed as over- 
seer by the Russian Government to track brodyagi — came 
to him in difficulty one day about his wife. He had 
migrated to a far-off village on the river Nabil* and 
married. On the day that he arrived at Mr. P.'s hut, 
his father-in-law accompanied him, and together they 
told the story of the newly married wife's desertion and 
elopement with another Gilyak to the Bay of Okhotsk. 
This was hundreds of miles away, and Mr. P. was power- 
less to do anything, and advised the young husband to 
acquiesce in his fate, and let the wife live with the man 
she loved ; but nothing would satisfy him save a paper 
with writing upon it. He had seen such effect mighty 
things ; buy (ruble notes) untold wealth, and bring about 
the arrest of a criminal, and so he would have this magic. 

* Which discharges on the east coast at a spot a few miles south 
of the mouth of the Tim. 



264 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

His importunity was such that at last Mr. P. gave him 
a paper, on which he wrote, " It is not good to take away 
the wife of another man." The Gilyak took the paper, 
in an envelope, and went away ; and afterwards on the 
strength of this paper, the writing of which nobody in 
the taiga could read, he got his wife back again. 

Among the eighty-eight adults who died between 1891 
and 1895 on the west coast, one was a young Gilyak 
woman who hanged herself, because she had been given 
in marriage to a man she disliked. Under this strange 
wild exterior, this dirt-encased, skin-clad, unkempt, ill- 
favoured form, we are startled by the "one touch of 
nature ; M and yet the old, old songs of this people tell 
mostly of such events — of the death of the disappointed 
lovers, or of the impassioned appeal to the loved one. 

Perhaps one day we may hope to have some of these 
Gilyak lyrics from the pen of Mr. P. ; meanwhile, his kind- 
ness enables me to give one here, and to tell the story of 
another. 

The usual motif of these lyrics is the betrothal of the 
girl when young, and her subsequent violent and secret 
attachment to another and youthful lover. If the mutual 
passion is strong, then rather than become the wife of one 
chosen by her parents for her, she and her lover will 
commit suicide. This they do in the same manner, i.e. 
by plunging a knife to the heart, or by strangling, since 
those who thus kill themselves in the same way will be 
together in heaven. There is one song, well known among 
the Gilyaks, which tells how a young man loved a fair 
maiden already betrothed in her childhood to another, 
and how they agreed to commit suicide. This man, how- 
ever, proved faithless, and not only did not fulfil his word, 
but had never intended so to do. Until this day, it is said 
the maiden's spirit has never ceased to upbraid him, calling 
always, " Ah, you said you would kill yourself, and you 
have not. You deceived me ! Men are liars ! " 



NIVO 265 

And to-day the reproachful tones of the cruelly de- 
ceived maiden may be heard in the " swish of the sledge 
and the howl of the dogs as the narta starts off" — 

" You said you would kill yourself, 
And you did not. 
You are a deceiver ! 
Men are liars ! " 

All Gilyaks, it is said, know the old, old songs, the epics 
of their race, but with the lyrics it is otherwise, for they are 
very numerous, and always being added to. These are 
composed by the maidens of the tribe, who tell them to 
their girl friends, and they again to the Gilyak world. It 
may not be known who the authoress is, for that would be 
considered a want of modesty. Sometimes one may be 
heard to say, " There goes an old woman who made songs 
in her youth ; " but it is not " good form." Woman's mission 
is the manage. The Gilyak's notions of modesty are very 
strict. After they have passed the age of childhood 
brothers and sisters are not allowed to speak to one 
another. If the former attempted it, the latter would turn 
away in injured modesty. The song that follows, which I 
give in the original, with an English translation, reveals 
the Gilyak maiden in quite another attitude. This is no 
impassioned appeal, but a summary and cruel rejection of 
her lover. She holds him up to ridicule in her song, pictur- 
ing him as an owl. She will have none of his addresses, 
and finishes with the words — 

" Do not thou say of me 
That thou art sorry for me." 

i.e. admit that thou art unworthy of me, and cease to say 
thou lovest me. 



266 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

GILYAK MAIDEN'S SONG.* 

Cheu zyau naklyo 
Chakh pop chihro tivra 
Chiziyon ihrirsh 
Hiti tan chera. 

Cheu zyau naklyo 
Pyalin yaliun kahre 
Siati kshi akh tivra 
Nyoliyo kharra 
Kat khit lyo ne 
Tarukh mindre. 

Nyatin hosko pshtchazinko intint 

Finenko tehre 

Cheu zyau nonko 

Ni fat shtchiv shtchivra 

Chiziyon ihrirsh 

Osiukh tokra 

Chikh pokhitra. 

Mkhilyan kut chinta 
Msha kin vulke 
Alif cheu mumko 
Mkhilyan kanen nazlyo 
Alif ziumpru 
Nas char khiti 
Chiziyon ihra 
Cheu zyau naklyo 
Ken oska khainkyo 
Teni nav kharra 
Nyokl visha khitlyo. 

Finenko tehre 
Ta ni Her itiya 
Nerakh pefin tar itikh. 

* The remarks on the pronunciation at the beginning of this book 
apply also to the transliteration of this song. 



NIVO 267 

(TRANSLATION.) 

The owl bird 

Sat on top of a barkless tree 
Hooting and trembling 
And bending down. 

The owl bird raises his head and cries, 

For various things he asks ; 

On the end of Cape Siata he sat 

Wrinkled up 

And featherless, 

From his forehead mud runs down. 

Oh unhappy I ! I look round myself, 

I am sorry for myself, 

The owlet 

Sat on my knees,* 

Hooting and trembling ; 

He lifts up 

His head (all) white. 

In a boat I saw thee, 

On a level with the edge, 

But the boat was without prow ; 

A long whip (lay) 

Across the bow, 

I raised the whip 

And cried, 

" Owl bird, 

Thy face is against the sun, and therefore 

Wrinkled 

Is thy high forehead." 

I am sorry for myself, 
But do not thou say of me 
That thou art sorry for me. 

* She is distressed because, in her mind's eye, she sees him come 
and sit beside her or on her knees. 



268 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

The meaning is not everywhere clear, and the tempta- 
tion to read more into it than was intended is one that has 
to be resisted. There is no doubt of her withering scorn. 

Her disappointed lover is described as featherless (bald), 
and with mud running down his forehead ; and, again, as 
peevish in his cries for " various things." 

In the third verse (the divisions are mine) she breaks 
into her plaint, apparently because his attentions make 
her miserable, and he persists in sitting down beside her, 
whereupon she strikes a note of contempt in her epithet of 
" owlet," or fledgeling. 

Another picture rises without warning before us in the 
fourth verse. It is like a child's story made up on the 
spur of the moment. She is in a boat, a canoe apparently 
(without prow), and a whip, a long dog's whip the words 
imply, lies on the prow. Then she cries, "Thy face is 
against the sun, and therefore wrinkled is thy high forehead," 
and one is tempted to see in them a warning to the suitor 
that he looks too high — he, a denizen of the night, aspiring 
to the sunlight of her countenance. But I think it is more 
probable that the maiden authoress, having kept up her 
metaphor so long, has at length slid off into narrative, and 
drawn a picture from memory's portfolio. 

A young man on marrying may make his home with 
his father ; but if he be still in the single state and desire a 
hut of his own, he must marry, for it is more than infra dig. 
for him to do domestic work. For a Gilyak to take in his 
hand the woman's fish-knife (ungu-dzkakko) is considered 
a disgrace. 

On Sakhalin, when the would-be husband — not the old 
man who buys a second wife thirteen years old to assist 
his ageing spouse — but the youth who aspires to set up 
housekeeping, is in possession of wealth enough to pay the 
price demanded, he is still confronted by a difficulty 
if he wishes to have a separate establishment. He 
may be content to live on in the paternal home, or, if 



NIVO 269 

not, he will probably be able to get his friends and 
comrades to help him build a hut ; but this is not enough, 
a cauldron is required, and this is a very expensive item. 
He may have to pay in skins the value of forty -five rubles 
(4i guineas). I have even heard of them costing sixty 
rubles. This was the difficulty with our Vanka, who was 
a capable young man of fifteen, according to his own 
estimate, but according to our notions about twenty-six or 
twenty-eight. He was desirous of marrying, and offered to 
take me and my interpreter during the following summer 
to the " end of the world," with the aid of three of his 
companions, for the moderate charge of forty rubles 
apiece. With this sum he would be able to buy a cauldron, 
and he had already saved sufficient for the purchase of a 
wife. The offer was certainly reasonable, and one which 
compares favourably with Messrs. Thomas Cook & Son's 
"Round the World Tours ! " Indeed, contrasted with Vanka's 
projected tour, I find Messrs. Cook & Son distinctly wanting 
in enterprise and adventure. So far as I in my " lettered " 
ignorance could ascertain, the end of the world is away 
north, but how we were to reach it in the cockle-shells 
of the Tim or Tro Gilyaks, I left to those who could 
talk familiarly of what was hidden from the President of 
the Royal Geographical Society himself, and to the great 
Tol ni vookh, who had already looked with favour upon us. 
There were legends which seemed to indicate that Cape 
Maria (or Cape Elizabeth), in the extreme north of the 
island, was regarded as the " end of the world." We heard 
of " black men who were cannibals," * but beyond them and 
their country, Vanka assured us lay our goal. The Gilyak 
canoe seemed a poor sea-going craft, and the ignorance of 
the stars shown by the natives stamped them as a land 
race. On the other hand, they were noted for their 

* What the origin of this report about black men was I do not 
know, but in the old legends the Gilyak hero is often represented as 
slaying his opponent and eating him. 



270 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

excellent orientation in the dark. From Vanka we could 
get no information about the moon, and so I asked if 
he knew anything about the man in it. No, his father 
had told him something about him once, but he had for- 
gotten, and, though he knew he was there, he really couldn't 
tell if he were a bad man, condemned to live there, or a 
good man. 

The cauldron plays an important part, not only in the 
everyday domestic economy, but at the very threshold of 
the new joint life — at the marriage ceremony itself. At 
least, this is so among some of the clans on Sakhalin. 
No religious function, as we understand it, graces the 
occasion ; only a simple custom, which appears as a tradi- 
tional sanction to this important departure in the Gilyak's 
family life. 

The payment having been made without formality to 
the bride's father, a feast is prepared in his hut, to which 
the bridegroom comes with his friends, bringing a new 
Japanese cauldron. The marriage feast is then cooked in 
this new vessel, and eaten with rejoicing, for the eating 
together is part of the necessary function. This ended, the 
two cauldrons, the new one and that pertaining to the hut, 
are both cleaned and placed by the bridegroom's kindred 
in front of the bride, who, with her partner, is standing with 
her back turned to the fire, and face to the door of the hut. 
She then places her left foot in the new vessel and her right 
in the paternal, or rather maternal, cauldron, the two being 
placed one step apart. The bridegroom then moves them 
one by one, a step at a time, until the bride reaches the 
door. Here the couple take up their own and go to their 
new hut, amid the acclamations of their kindred. 

We have already seen how sacred the hearth is to the 
Gilyak, and in the rites adopted at the lying-in-state of a 
deceased woman, her intimate relation and duty towards 
Tur ni vookk, the god of fire. Even as the fire is her 
rightful domain, so is the cauldron her special care, and 



NIVO 271 

hers alone ; not even her daughters may interfere in this 
her private and sacred sphere. She alone has the right 
of putting on the cauldron ; this is her right as hostess. 
Whatever the putting of the feet into the cauldrons may 
symbolize, the fact that the bride does it to both the 
maternal and the new one evidently witnesses for the first 
time to her equality with her mother, her rightful position 
as a hausfrau and head of her own domestic establish- 
ment. Henceforth her status is also guaranteed among 
her husband's kindred. 

On the following morning I proceeded to barter at 
Nivo for native snares (yu ru), belts (vz bu is), with gun- 
powder, skin-flask, shot-horn, flint and steel pouch, etc., and 
what I was assured was, the marriage trousseau of one 
of the " Lady Mayoresses," the elder wife of our host. 
She was very astute, and drove a hard bargain, but I 
succeeded in getting her seal-skin coat, a handsome gar- 
ment having a pattern worked in by the employment of 
different shades of skin, her fur gloves, and a Manchurian 
silk wadded hat, which was probably in her younger days 
the envy of all her friends. 

The shubi, or fur coats of the men and women, are 
often alike and taken in mistake by either, but the women 
prefer seal-skin and the men dog-skin. Probably this is 
because the former seldom go far from their huts, and it is 
hot and inconvenient to have a great furry coat on (the 
hair is worn outside) during domestic duties rather than a 
light and smooth seal-skin. The woman's hat (kakh-pisakk) 
is not unlike a sun-bonnet in shape, but has three lappets, 
two for the ears and one for the coiffure, which is done up 
prettily with rings in two pigtails. This shape of hat has 
the advantage of protecting the ears from the cold, and yet 
being easily removed without catching the earrings and 
tearing the ears. Earrings {meskk) are in general use, and 
mostly of Japanese and Chinese make. They are large 
simple rings of silver, of one and a half or more inches in 



272 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

diameter, with an agate or two. These, with the rare silk 
brocade, sable-skin hats, shubi> and shoes are regarded as 
family heirlooms. They are bought one after the other 
with the surplus " wealth " of the Gilyak family, and repre- 
sent the capital of the hut. A bundle of paper-money or 
a heap of silver pieces have little attraction for the native, 
whereas a sable-skin shuba or a piece of sky-blue silk is a 
" thing of beauty and a joy for ever." Moreover, they are 
just as useful in the business of exchange ; and the native, 
long used to dealing in the concrete, knows exactly their 
value, whereas money is unfamiliar ; and when he comes in 
his travels to a Russian store, he has no standard by which 
to measure the value of his ruble notes. 

The reader would sympathize with his position if he 
suddenly found himself dropped down in a Korean village 
on the day of a fair with a pocketful of " cash." In such case 
he might congratulate himself on having only paid double 
the market value of his purchases. Hence it was that in 
dealing with the Gilyaks and Orochons, we found that 
they would ask much more in money than in goods from 
us, and that our advantage lay in bartering. 

The younger wife of our host was considered the belle 
of all the Gilyaks, but I will let the reader judge of her 
claims to beauty from the accompanying illustration, in 
which she is represented playing a musical instrument. 
Vanka, who claimed to be a cousin of hers, had brought 
this forth from the recesses of the hut, and both he and she 
played upon it. It is now in my possession ; but I must 
confess the music appealed more to the imagination than 
the ear, for when played with the tongue or even the hand 
it was with difficulty we could hear it. It consists of one 
string of fish-gut, strung along a stick and over a cylindrical 
piece of birch bark ; and it goes by the scarcely euphonious 
name of tin-kirn. Other musical instruments are a little 
wooden Jew's harp called a kos-cha ; a small bag of fish- 
skin stretched tightly on to a circular piece of wood like a 



NIVO 273 

drumhead, containing bones which are rattled ; and the 
fish-skin tambourine already mentioned. 

At this village of Nivo, which with Chaivo is the best 
known on the east coast, we heard much of the " good old 
times," and the latter-day degeneration of the Gilyaks, 
both in physique and in numbers. Yungkin told how they 
used to be " big and strong as giants, but now were small, 
short, and dry! 1 

In explanation of this the Russians accuse them of 
being lazy, and according to our notions there is a good 
deal in the accusation. A Gilyak may be found sitting by 
a river teeming with fish ; he has made a catch and wants 
no more, yet before winter is over his stores will have 
given out. For this state of things habit and tradition are 
responsible. It would savour of greediness, and perhaps 
even of distrust of Tol ni vookk, to exceed the usual custom. 
" The Great Spirit does not wish us to catch so many " 
is the reply to the stranger's inquiry. And probably in the 
olden time such dependence on Providence was not mis- 
placed, when their hunting-grounds and the wild denizens 
thereof were practically limitless. It is said that twenty 
years ago a Gilyak would spear, during spawning-time, 
300 kita in a day, whereas now he secures but eighty. 

After all, regrettable as it is, the decline of the race 
must be attributed to contact with the white man. The 
immediate result of the latter's presence has been the 
curtailment of the native hunting preserves ; and though 
it is true that the Russians have, outside of their main 
settlements, made little impression on the taiga, yet the 
best fishing-grounds, e.g. the river Tim and the west coast, 
have naturally attracted the white man, and in so far 
limited the possibilities of the Gilyak fishery. Then the 
clearings, and especially the fires — in some cases carelessly 
left to spread destruction — have naturally driven off or 
destroyed the wild game and restricted it to smaller 
compass. 

T 



274 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

Some of their elders told us that " before the Russians 
came there were plenty of bears, sables, and reindeer, but 
since they arrived and burnt the woods the rich had 
become poor. In those days the poor man could go into 
the taiga as the rich man to-day " (i.e. with as large a 
following of helpers and as many snares to collect 
from). 

An example of the way in which the proximity of the 
Russians incidentally renders the conditions of life harder 
is seen in the feeding of the Gilyak dogs. These cannot 
always be allowed their liberty, and the fiercer ones are 
tied up, lest they should attack the cattle of Russian neigh- 
bours — a certain casus belli. Accustomed to feed them- 
selves the dogs have now to be fed, and their master's 
winter stores naturally give out sooner. To avoid this the 
natives migrate further afield to less favourable fishing- 
grounds.* 

The older Gilyaks say that during their time, and their 
fathers' before them, but one famine had occurred before 
the Russians came, about eighty years ago, but since then 
there have been many repetitions. In the winter and early 
spring of 1896, and again of 1897, there were successive 
bad times, and around Rikovsk special assistance had to 
be given to the natives by the authorities. In 1898, 
a wet autumn prevented the accumulation of the usual 
stores of dried fish, and was followed by another very bad 
winter. The worthy ex-overseer at Derbensk, in whose 
hut we had stayed, was on duty down the Tim during 
that year. So terrible was the state of things that he found 
" one or more dying in every hut," and in the hope of 
stemming the tide of disease following on the ravages 
of famine, he took upon himself the responsibility of giving 
away the Crown stores ; but in most cases it was already 
too late, and large numbers died of the grippe. The filthy 

* Dr. Pogaevsky, in a report on the food of the Gilyak, in the local 
and official Sakhalin Kalendar, 1899. 



NIVO 275 

condition of the huts, and the accumulations of winter, 
aggravated the effects of the ravages of disease and the 
exposure to the severities of the climate. 

Such a state of things presses hardly on the children, 
and accounts for the high rate of mortality among them. 
There being no statistics of the early years of Russian 
occupation, we can only gather from tradition and the 
shrinking of villages and from isolated statistics of recent 
years, the gradual diminution of the Gilyak race on 
Sakhalin. 

The figures already quoted show, for the population of 
the Gilyak villages lying between Arkovo and Cape Maria 
on the west coast, the miserable increase of J§ per cent, or 
scarcely \ per cent, per annum. 

Lung and throat diseases and scurvy accounted for 
most of the deaths among the older people, but four died 
from accident, of whom one was frozen, another drowned, 
one already mentioned hanged herself, and another was 
beaten to death by her husband. 

Coughs, colds, and pulmonary complaints are very 
prevalent, and the methods of healing scarcely adequate. 
For a sore throat, a concoction of moskun-tomask (field 
camo mile) is swallowed, and for inflammation of the lungs, 
a diluted exusion from the fungi of trees is drunk in place 
of tea. 

Whether these herbal remedies are dictated by experi- 
ence and the Gilyak knowledge of medicinal herbs, which 
is said to be considerable, or is anything more than Sham- 
anistic lore and a series of charms, I cannot say. The 
treatment adopted for other ailments, such as toothache, 
swellings, earache, and ulcer, is certainly of the latter kind. 
For the first they apply some of the down of a hazel-grouse 
(Tetrao bonasia) to the cheek ; for the second and third, the 
squirrel's tail {plf-regd) and a piece of its ear (tul-noss) 
are respectively tied to the parts affected ; and for the last, 
gazhii) i.e. a piece of a wasp's nest, is placed on the ulcer. 



276 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

Many of the peoples of these northern climes make 
intoxicating beverages, as for instance the Yakuts, who 
manufacture a spirit from toadstools. The Gilyaks may 
be considered an exception. There is, however, a decoc- 
tion, but little heard of, made by them from the " burrs " 
of birch-trees. These exude a black juice so strong that 
a piece of the wood, of the size of a lump of sugar, is 
sufficient to make a big cauldron of the beverage. The 
decoction is sweet to the taste, and has a welcome softening 
effect on the organs of respiration. 

To-day Russian vodka, though prohibited by the 
Government, is eagerly sought after and frequently 
obtained. 



CHAPTER XV 
FROM NIVO TO IRR KIRR 

An aristocrat — A party intent on buying a bear — Five brodyagi on our 
path — A memorable escape — A two months' campaign — Canni- 
balism — Migration of birds — Seal added to the menu — Tol ni 
vookh delivers us — Tracking a bear — A winter duel with Bruin — 
Reindeer hunting in the bur an. 

FROM Nivo a start was made with our river crew, 
Vanka and Armunka, to ascend the Tim. Both 
had been ostentatiously pleased to welcome us 
back, but when we came to pack I found Armunka averse 
from helping. I remonstrated with him for leaving to 
Vanka all the work, save what little I and my interpreter 
were doing, but to no effect ; so going up to him I took 
him by the shoulders and shook him. I was really angry, 
and only refrained from boxing his ears at the request of 
Vanka, and from doubt of the attitude of the dozen 
Gilyaks who were looking on. Vanka good naturedly 
apologized for his companion, explaining that he had been 
making merry and the effect had not yet worn off. There 
was, however, more than this in it ; and we were consider- 
ably amused to learn later that Armunka was, as we 
should say, of independent means, came of an aristocratic 
family ; and therefore his pride of ancestry at times asserted 
itself, and he refused to do menial service ! It was several 
days later that we arrived at his home in the village 
of Irr Kirr, but in vain I looked around for the paternal 
acres, the vast estates of this Gilyak peer. The hut was 

277 



278 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

comparatively small and rather bare. I must do him 
justice, however, for there was no doubt of his being 
a great hunter. During the previous year he had killed 
three bears and captured two, which had brought him 
honour, and would gain him wealth. 

It was with much opposition that I finally got the 
canoe started. The sea was rough in the bay, "white 
horses " still crested its surface, and rain had been threaten- 
ing all day. Our host, with the wisdom of a weather 
prophet, foretold our upset, and even Vanka all but point- 
blank refused to start. And here I will confess that when 
our frail craft danced in the midst of seething waters, I 
began to ask myself if I had been foolhardy. Personally 
I ran little risk, for I could swim ; but my interpreter and 
the natives could not, and I had no right to endanger 
their lives. Again, however, Fortune smiled on us, and we 
gained at length the sheltered channel of the delta with no 
more than a little water shipped, Vanka having wisely tied 
down all the baggage by means of our tent canvas. At 
the mouth of the river, on the islands of the delta, huge 
logs of driftwood lay piled up like lazy giants waiting for 
the floods to wake them to action. Choosing the deepest 
channel we got into the main stream, and proceeded for 
two or three miles before the sun set and forced us to 
camp in the swamps. 

Scarcely had we disembarked when a boat, impelled by 
four pairs of sculls and a paddle astern, hove in sight. It 
was a party of Gilyaks from Nivo going up to Derbensk 
to buy a bear. The purchase-money was not in their 
purses, indeed had they possessed them it would have 
been somewhat difficult to get it in, for the price proposed 
was one dog, a piece of Chinese silk, and some tobacco. 
We were somewhat surprised at their arrival, for we had 
not heard of their intention before, and I guessed that 
they had not been quite ready, and this had been partly 
the cause of their anxiety to delay us. It was evident 



FROM NIVO TO IRR KIRR 279 

that they wished to accompany us ; whether for their own 
protection or, in accordance with secret instructions from 
the police-officer, for ours, we knew not. The reason of this 
move was a message delivered to us at Nivo by Vanka, and 
sent to the starosta there through natives, by the police. It 
was to the effect that five convicts had escaped (I believe 
three really had escaped, and the other two had joined them 
from a settlement), of whom three had managed to obtain 
two soldiers' guns and a Winchester rifle, besides revolvers. 
At the same time our Gilyaks were given permission to 
shoot any Russian who approached our camp. 

We welcomed the appearance of these five natives, for 
in view of the possibility of a surprise, we had resolved to 
take it in turns to keep watch at night. A few days later 
the police-officer himself, whom we overtook, gave us more 
details about these five brodyagi, who, he said, were bent 
on murdering our hosts the prospectors, or failing them 
the Vanderbilts, i.e. the Orochon brothers Fizik, or the 
captains of the Japanese brigs, all of whom were in 
possession of stores. The Japanese captains had evidently 
been warned, for their schooners, instead of riding in the 
bay, had anchored in the strait when we passed them 
on the evening of our arrival at Nivo. 

Since the river Tim afforded the only route for the 
outlaws, we must either meet or pass. 

As with most of those who escape from the prisons, 
these men were bent on reaching the north of the island, 
beyond the cordons of soldiers, and getting across from 
Cape Pogobi to the mainland. On the small chance of 
their ultimate escape I have already enlarged ; but of the 
comparatively large numbers who in summer make a bid 
for freedom and are roaming at large on the island the 
reader can have but little conception. 

The importance of this factor, the brodyaga, in checking 
the development of the resources of the island, and 
rendering hard and insecure the lot of those who try to 



280 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

live a decent and thrifty life, can be gauged from the 
following narrative. It is a story often told by the camp- 
fire or at the evening meal in Sakhalin, but I give it 
unabridged, at the risk of confusing the reader with the 
names of insignificant places, in the exact words (trans- 
lated) of the report of the Military Governor of Sakhalin 
to his superior officer, the Governor-general of the Amur 
district, a report which I need hardly say was not intended 
to fall into my hands. Were it not for this unimpeachable 
authority, such a state of things as is described, added to 
the fear of the authorities lest a general uprising was at 
hand, would seem impossible. 

"In the summer of 1896, from the prisons of Rikovsk 
and Alexandrovsk, nine convicts ran away, of whom two 
were Russians, Krevenko and Vergulenko, and the other 
seven, Caucasian mountaineers. Although they escaped 
at different times, yet somewhere they joined forces and 
became one gang, turning up in the Timovsk okrug near 
the Bay of Patience, where for 200 versts along the coast 
are Japanese fishing-stations.* 

" As from the regiment at Korsakovsk very few soldiers 
could be spared, two patrols of five men each were 
despatched. One of these was at Tikmenev, f 300 versts 
from Korsakovsk, and the other at Manue, midway 
between the two. The brodyagi came without hindrance, 
by the cleared track from Onor, to Nay-ero, near to 
Tikmenev, unaware of the patrol there, and were captured 
before they could offer any resistance. 

" On July 27 (o.S.) the convoy started with a guard 
for Korsakovsk. The sub-officer, Kuyat, who had but 
four soldiers under him, appointed three of these, with 
six 'exile-settlers,' five of whom had shot-guns, to form 
the guard. By July 29 the convoy had safely reached 
Salutora, a distance of sixty versts. Here they had a day's 

* Occupied by the Japanese during summer, 
t At the mouth of the Poronai river. 



FROM NIVO TO IRR KIRR 281 

rest, and the six 'exile-settlers' were replaced by six from 
Salutora, but these had only three shot-guns. On 
July 31 they started again, and had proceeded for twelve 
versts along the shore when the vagabonds, observing that 
the soldiers' and exiles' watch was not strict, suddenly made 
a concerted attack on their guard ; the convict Vergulenko 
wrenching from the hands of an ' exile-settler' his gun, and 
shooting fatally a soldier, Dumnitsky. Another vagabond 
seized the gun of the dead soldier and killed the exile 
Kartovich, whereupon the other exiles ran away, leaving 
the remaining two soldiers to combat the nine brodyagi. 
In this unequal fight the soldier Liuchetsky received a 
terrible blow from an oar, which rendered him unconscious, 
his gun dropping from his hand before he had fired. The 
last soldier, Vilzhus, was dreadfully beaten by the vaga- 
bonds, and left unarmed. Having thus freed themselves, 
the brodyagi cut the telegraph-wire between Salutora and 
Korsakovsk, and being now in possession of three single- 
barrelled rifles, with twenty-three military cartridges and 
two shot-guns, they made an attack, on the evening of the 
same day, on the Japanese fishermen at the village of 
Kaspuchi. Here the gang killed one Japanese, wounded 
another, and, beating many others, made off with their big 
boat, with a view of getting away to a Japanese island * or 
joining a pirate vessel. They failed, however, in this 
attempt, for a great storm sprang up, and they found them- 
selves cast ashore once more at Kaspuchi. The robber 
band now disappeared with their Japanese loot, into the 
taiga. Meanwhile the two wounded soldiers, Liuchetsky 
and Vilzhus, having recovered consciousness, crawled 
wearily back to Salutora, where their wounds were bound 
up. Later on, a doctor, sent from Korsakovsk, was able to 
put them on the road to recovery. The soldiers remaining 
at Tikmenev (two), and the five at Manue, and some on 
guard at the yacht Emilia, belonging to the merchants 
* Yezo, or one of the Kuriles. 



282 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

Semeinov & Co., when they received word of what had 
happened, joined as one company, and despatched five of 
their party, four privates under the command of one 
Skipchik. 

" On August 3 they came upon the Japanese fishing- 
station of Kaspuchi, which had been attacked ; and on 
the next day followed up the track of the brodyagi into 
the taiga. These they found about four versts distant 
encamped on an inaccessible (sic) mountain, the sides of 
which were densely covered with trees of one hundred 
years' growth. Nevertheless, the party gave attack, and 
the vagabonds ran, leaving all their booty behind them ; 
but not without wounding two of their assailants. This 
necessitated the party returning to Salutora, there to 
deposit their wounded. 

" On August 5 two of the vagabonds, Krevenko 
and Vergulenko, gave themselves up, and the latter con- 
fessed * that he had killed the soldier Dumnitsky. On the 
same day also arrived the district doctor, Sorminsky, to 
give aid to the wounded ; the officer Okula Khulak to 
make an investigation ; and Lieutenant Merzhanov (of a 
Kazak regiment) with a company of six soldiers. 

" On the 8th another company of six soldiers was sent 
as reinforcements from Korsakovsk,f and was posted at 
Mogun-kotan % (forty-six versts from Salutora). 

"To Lieutenant Merzhanov were given the following 
orders : — 

(a) to take under his command all the companies of 
soldiers on the east coast of Sakhalin ; 

* Probably under terrible beating. 

t Evidently the authorities at the chief place of the district were 
getting anxious lest the gang should direct their next attack upon it, 
and the convicts should rise. 

\ This, like most of the place names on the Bay of Patience, is of 
Ainu nomenclature. Kotan is the Ainu for village. There is a sug- 
gestive likeness in this word to the Manchu khotun, which means 
a city, e.g. Ririii ula khotun is the city of the river Kirin. 



FROM NIVO TO IRR KIRR 283 

(b) to track the brodyagi ; 

(c) to protect from robbery the Japanese fisheries ; 

(d) to prevent damage to the telegraph-wire ; 

(e) to protect persons sent to repair it. 

He had under his command four companies, numbering in 
all twenty-one men. With so small a force to follow the 
vagabonds, to protect the coast-line for 200 versts, and 
at the same time to keep guard over the two convicts 
already arrested, was a difficult undertaking. Notwith- 
standing that the Korsakovsk regiment had reduced its 
number on guard, and all those on domestic service, it had 
no power to send more reinforcements, therefore orders 
were given * to add to the strength of the companies by 
sending exiles and Ainus, who were to do ' second-rate ' 
field service. At the same time the chief of the Timovsk 
district was ordered to send a company from Onor to 
Tikmenevsk Post (Tikmenev). 

" But as yet, before the companies had been able to 
effect a junction, the gang had robbed a Japanese store-hut 
near the fishing-station of Veng-kotan ; and on August 8, 
at 11 p.m., had made ^an assault on the Japanese 
fishery, Sung-kotan. Here they met with a repulse by the 
little company under Lieutenant Merzhanov, who had 
hurried to the spot ; but succeeded in making good their 
escape into the taiga. 

" After this the gang, hard pressed by the soldiers, were 
seen in several spots on the east coast between Salutora 
and Nay-ero, but they did not risk any more attacks on 
the Japanese fisheries. 

" On August 22, at two versts' distance from Nay-ero, 
the soldiers came upon the gang in a dark corner of 
the forest. It was a black night, and under cover of it 
the brodyagi fled, but not without wounding two of their 
pursuers, a Kazak, Buburikin, and an Ainu. These two 
were sent to Salutora, where the regimental doctor, Sakalov, 

* By the Military Governor. 



284 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

attended to them. The gang, which was by such perti- 
nacious following prevented from committing robberies 
among the Japanese fishermen, now abandoned the sea- 
coast and made for the north towards Onor ; on the way 
making an assault on Dal, a station thirty-five versts from 
Nay-ero, containing only two inhabitants, an overseer and 
a watchman, who were convicts from Korsakovsk prison. 
The vagabonds had already set fire to the fuel which they 
had placed around the habitation when they were overtaken 
by Lieutenant Merzhanov and his company, but made good 
their escape to the north again. On the following day the 
lieutenant and his company continued the pursuit for 
thirty-five versts to the 'village' of Khoy, one of those 
destitute of inhabitants and stores. Further the soldiers, 
quite exhausted and without provisions, could not go, and, 
having rested here one day, they returned. 

" On August 25, by order of the Military Admin- 
istration, six soldiers were despatched from Rikovsk with 
extreme speed. By the evening of the 28th they had 
reached the village of Hamdasa the Second, a distance of 
100 versts. The vagabonds, ignorant of these movements, 
made a night attack on the prison store of that very 
village, which was defended by the soldiers. During 
the operations one of the gang was killed. To bring the 
matter to an end * two more companies of six soldiers 
each were despatched on August 29, one to the village 
of Taulan and the other to Palivo. Six days later, on 
September 5, the brodyagi, unaware of the presence of 
the soldiers, attacked the village of Taulan, and were 
repelled with a loss of one killed, one severely wounded, 
and two taken prisoners, the remaining two disappearing, 
with their guns, into the taiga. 

"Ten days later, on September 15, these two vaga- 
bonds reached the river Pilinga in the Alexandrovsk 
district, where is a summer-hut. Here they suddenly 
* And to forestall an attack on Rikovsk. 



FROM NIVO TO IRR KIRR 285 

and unexpectedly met two soldiers, sent to kill a bear 
in the neighbourhood. A fight ensued, in which one 
brodyaga was severely wounded and succumbed to his 
injuries,* and the other escaped into the taiga. At the 
end of three days he was caught." The report ends here, 
but the last of such a notorious band was no doubt 
hanged. 

Three years before this the road between Rikovsk and 
Onor was the scene of tragic events, which even found 
echo in England. Though the reports which reached the 
London papers, of the processions of corpses of convicts 
and horrible cruelties practised, were exaggerated, yet 
the circumstances of the case were bad enough. Two 
hundred convicts were ordered in the summer of 1892 to 
make this road through the taiga. Unfortunately for 
them and their guards it was not only the taiga but the 
tundra which had to be penetrated, for the track was to 
follow the Poronai river, which flows through a wide, level 
and swampy valley. Large numbers of the gang died of 
dysentery and fever, and starvation followed in their wake ; 
for unexpected falls of rain rendered the swamps impass- 
able and cut off parties from their base of supplies. 
Towards the end of the following summer three of the 
party, who could bear the privations no longer, planned an 
escape into the taiga. In this they succeeded, but it was 
only to prove for them a change for the worse. For many 
days they eluded their pursuers, but in so doing got deeper 
into the primaeval forest and found it more and more 
difficult to get sustenance ; so that when two of the three 
were ultimately captured, there was little doubt that they 
had been driven, in their extremity, to kill and eat their 
comrade. One of them was found to have a human bone 
in his pouch, but already his mind had been unhinged by 
his awful experience, and it was impossible to tell from his 
own account whether their companion had died or whether 

* Probably severely beaten by his assailant after the struggle. 



286 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

they had murdered him. His insanity saved his life, and 
he was put under treatment, and to this day goes by the 
name of Vasiliv the Cannibal. The illustration is from a 
photograph taken after his arrest. The other, Kalenik by 
name, was sentenced to ninety-nine strokes of the plet, 
from which he died. 

As a rule, the convicts on Sakhalin are of a dull and 
heavy type, absolutely wanting in power of organization ; 
and it says much for these hardy Caucasian mountaineers 
that they were able to avoid capture by their pursuers for 
five or six weeks. Many are longer at large than this, but 
being in twos or threes, are better able to find sufficient 
supplies and to avoid the attentions of the trackers. They 
are also not the object of extraordinary military tactics. 

Our new acquaintances, the five Gilyaks who had just 
joined us, camped alongside in Orochon tents. Whether 
the Orochons had learnt to make these, as was reported, or 
whether they in their turn obtained them from the Japanese 
or Manchus, I do not know. They were tiny erections of 
light drill, not more than three or four feet high and 
shaped like a square marquee. A long stake was thrust 
obliquely into the ground, and from this hung the tent, as 
if it were a diving bell, the corners being tied to a bear- 
spear, paddle, etc. How two or three people slept in this 
without getting asphyxiated, I cannot explain. 

I and my companion were secure from such a fate, as 
our construction hardly merited even the name of a 
shelter, and that night a hail-storm, followed by a keen 
wind from the Okhotsk Sea, swept into it. The discomfort 
of getting up at 6 a.m. to face a cold biting wind, with no 
more clothes to put on, is something the ordinary dweller 
in civilized places cannot readily realize, but an experience 
even more unpleasant followed in sitting with limbs stiff 
and " dead " for six long hours at the bottom of a canoe, 
facing the wind and longing for gleams of sunshine to thaw 
even one's hands. 




VASIL1V, "THE CANNIBAL. 



[ To face page 2 86. 



FROM NIVO TO IRR KIRR 287 

That night snow fell ; winter with his brusque manners 
in these parts had suddenly arrived to stay, at least on this, 
the east, side of the island. The mountains had put on their 
white caps, and would refuse to doff them until July of 
the following year. The next morning opened, however, 
quite still though cold. Our larder was in a poor state 
again, our tinned food was exhausted, and we had only 
scraped along by the aid of a duck shot the day before and 
the brick-like remains of a loaf of black bread given us by 
the prospectors. Now, as Vanka put it, the wild ducks 
had driven away south. 

The autumn migration of birds takes place rather later 
on Sakhalin than it does on the mainland. Travellers, like 
Prjevalsky, and observers, such as Mr. Seebohm and Mr. 
Harvie-Brown, have left us records of the passage of birds 
in spring and autumn to and from Siberia over the Mongo- 
lian sandy *wastes. The feathered inhabitants who spend 
their summer on Sakhalin have no vast waterless plains to 
traverse, and no long detours in order to keep track, where 
possible, of river valleys. Their journey is short because 
they winter for the most part in Japan or China ; and 
simple because the long backbone of Sakhalin is an un- 
failing guide, and provides them with mountain torrents 
by the way. 

But by this time — the end of September — the bulk 
of the avifaunal inhabitants had already departed for 
southern climes. The ducks, the mallard (Anas boschas), 
the harlequin duck {Clangitla histrionicd) , and the golden 
eye (C. glaucion) ; the teals, the garganey teal (Anas quer- 
quedida), the Baikal teal (A.querq.formosa), and the crested 
teal (A. falcota), which are to be shot in Ni Bay and up the 
Tim, had been almost the last to go, and we sighted a 
few and shot a mallard three or four days' journey up 
the river. Gone was the hooper swan (Cygnus musicus), 
whose cries had sometimes disturbed our rest at night. 
Among the Gilyaks this feathered friend goes by the 



288 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

onomatopoetic name of kikkik. The bean goose (Anser 
segetum, Middendorfii), of which we had seen several 
flocks on our outward journey, had also departed, for he, 
like the ducks, winters in Japan or China. 

Perhaps the earliest departing guest had been the 
cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), called by the Gilyaks rik. 
Having a long journey before him to the Southern hemi- 
sphere, we never saw him, and indeed he is rather a rare 
visitor to Sakhalin. If the cuckoo was the earliest the 
snow bunting {Plectrophanes nivalis) is about the latest to 
leave. Between the two limits a variety of smaller birds 
take their flight southwards, most of which had already 
set out. The sand martins (Cotile riparid) had gone ere 
we commenced our journey, the wagtails (Motacilla lugens 
and taivand) had flown since, and we saw neither the 
white-rumped swift (Cypselus pacificus) nor the needle- 
tailed variety (Chaetura caudacutd), which are certainly 
uncommon on the Tim. The brambling {Fringilla mon- 
tifringilld), the bullfinch {Pyrrhula rosacea), and many 
other of the smaller birds had left, including the Japanese 
lark (Alauda japonica), the Siberian ruby-throated robin 
{Erithacus calliope), and the whistling robin (E. sibilans). 
We missed also, on our return, the eastern turtle dove 
( Turtur orientalis), which the Gilyaks call the tu tut. 

A few stragglers such as the Japanese wren {Troglo- 
dytes fzimigatus), the long-tailed titmouse {Acredula cau- 
data), the red-throated and the eastern tree pipits (Anthus 
cervinus and maculatus), and the dusky ouzel (Merula 
fuscata) linger behind the main bodies. 

Comparatively speaking, the forests seemed birdless, 
and only a very occasional white-tailed eagle (Halietus 
albicillus), staying behind to fish in the upper reaches of 
the Tim, a solitary owl (Syrniutn uralense), or a passing 
crow (Corvus cor one), was seen or heard. 

Deep in the forest, if one ventured to follow up the 
tracks of some wild animal, those nomads, rather than 



FROM NIVO TO IRR KIRR 289 

migrants, as Mr. Charles Dixon would call them, the 
grouse family, were still to be found at home. We saw the 
hazel grouse (Tetrao bonasia), the capercailzie (T. urogallus), 
but not the willow grouse {Lagopus albus) though it is 
also found there. 

Our larder suffered in consequence of the departure of 
ducks, snipe, and geese ; but we could still fall back upon a 
cup of boiled rice, and that same morning saw another, 
though scarcely tasty, addition to the menu. The other 
canoe with its crew of five had been keeping just ahead of 
us for some time, when they signalled to us to heave to and 
keep quiet. Evidently they had seen something, and we 
watched them closely. First they paddled ashore and 
landed one of their number with a gun, who clambering on 
to the rush-covered bank and creeping as best he could 
along the edge, was lost to sight higher up. Suddenly the 
report of a gun sounded in our ears, followed by the plash 
of the oars as they gripped the water, and the long but 
quickening strokes as the canoe raced forward to catch the 
prey. 

We followed at a slower pace, and found them hauling 
in the carcase of a seal (Phoca vitulind). It had been lying 
asleep on a snag when sighted, and so soundly that they 
had wisely risked delay in order to make sure of a shot 
from terra fir ma. 

Our supper was assured for that day, though we 
scarcely expected to find in seal flesh a great delicacy. 
The Gilyaks prefer the " bacon," but in this case scarcely 
any of it remained uneaten. We, my interpreter and I, 
decided that the brain would be the least objection- 
able part, and hoped to deceive ourselves into imagining 
that we were eating calves' sweet-breads ; but we little 
knew how near we came to committing a mortal sin. 
For it was a matter of common knowledge among the 
Gilyaks that to eat the brain of a seal was indeed a 
deadly sin. 

U 



290 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

In addition to any other terrors that the next world 
might hold for us, to have put salt on a seal's brain, 
roasted and eaten it, would have resulted in our never 
killing a seal again. I am free to confess that we were still 
unbelieving and rash enough to be willing to try our fate, but 
all attempts to gain permission failed ; and we came to the 
conclusion that our natives were quite sincere in their 
belief, whatever was the raison d'etre of it. The moon, 
peering down through the trees of the forest, shone upon a 
strange scene that evening. Seven wild-looking figures, 
with raven pigtails, squatted round a seething cauldron, 
were tearing with teeth and fingers the flesh from the 
bones of the seal. For ourselves, a piece of the flesh was 
chosen and roasted separately on stakes ; and though under 
such circumstances one can eat almost anything, I confess 
when my friends, who lay some store on a menu recherche, 
ask me whether it was nice, my usual reply is that it 
tasted not unlike black-game fried in a pan used previously 
for herrings. 

The day before, we had come across one or two deserted 
camp-fires, and this day we passed a newly made raft, which 
our natives declared to be that of the five brodyagi, who 
must be hiding in the taiga. We were concerned for the 
prospectors, whom a period of freedom from attack had 
lured into a false security ; and as soon as was possible we 
gave messages of warning to natives in the hope of their 
reaching the ears of our late hosts. A month later we 
heard of their safety, and several months after I received a 
letter from one of them telling of the arrival of the five 
brodyagi. Fortunately the engineers were duly prepared 
for them, and insisted on their men, who were convicts and 
ex-convicts themselves, and who immediately declared 
their neutrality, not allowing any of the five to enter the 
hut. Coming out from the inner room of the hut one 
evening, they found two or three of the brodyagi sitting 
among the workmen. There was only one course to be 



FROM NIVO TO IRR KIRR 291 

adopted, that of promptitude and firmness. Without hesi- 
tation the masters cocked their revolvers and threatened to 
shoot unless the outlaws left the hut and never appeared 
there again. This determined attitude had its effect, and 
finding that they could not persuade their mates to join 
them in attacking their masters, the vagabonds left ; one, 
who had merely joined them because he was penniless, 
being persuaded to return to Derbensk, while the others 
plunged into the taiga to wander in the direction of the 
inhospitable north. My correspondent added they were 
" either shot or taken prisoners again." The one soldier, 
who was at the oil-wells, was anxious to have them arrested 
and taken as far at least as Nivo ; but had he attempted 
to do so he would certainly have been murdered, and to 
have impressed one or two of the working convicts as guard 
would have been worse than useless. 

After more than three days' rowing and punting we 
came to the first Gilyak village since leaving the bay. All 
the men-folk were absent, for it was the end of the Gilyak 
financial year ; and although! did not hear of any account- 
ants being called in or auditors appointed, a strict account 
of debts and payments was doubtless kept in the Gilyak 
memory. The current coin was dried fish, and the 
accumulation of this after spawning-time was now being 
applied by the men, who had gone up the river, to the 
payment of debts for rice and seal-oil borrowed, and in 
exceptional cases for potatoes advanced by the Russians. 
Camping a little higher up on the opposite side of the 
river in the forest, our natives were very merry, notwith- 
standing that the seal had been incontinently disposed of, 
and dried fish and seal-oil was the one course on their 
menu. To this, for breakfast on the following morning, were 
added the seeds of the Swiss pine (Pinus cembra pumila). 
A Gilyak youth of the party disappeared into the taiga, 
and quickly re-appeared with a lapful of the cones, from 
which they picked the seeds like monkeys, with teeth and 



2Q2 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

fingers. This day we overtook the police-officer, whom we 
had met in the Bay of Ni. Though he and his soldiers 
had started three or four days before us, they had got no 
further than this. Handicapped by a heavily laden flat- 
bottomed boat, they had to punt and tow it in turns, the 
soldiers wading up to their middle and wearily dragging 
it against stream. They presented a pitiable sight, their 
boots were patched and tied together, and in some cases a 
mere bundle of rags was all they had for " foot-wear." 
So long had they already been, that they had not sufficient 
salt meat to last another day. 

We pushed on ahead, and as we neared the centre of 
the island the wind dropped and the sun once more 
asserting its power, existence was again not merely bear- 
able but enjoyable. It was another glimpse of autumn 
before winter should seize and hold us firmly in his cold 
embrace. The shallows below were clear, the sky above 
blue, and the banks, a mingling of silvering willows (Salix 
macrolepis and Sakhalinensis) and yellowing birches {Betula 
alba), backed by the black forests of firs creeping up the 
sides of the mountains. And as if life and action should 
not be missing from the picture, five punting-poles were 
going in rhythm, and five bodies bending and swinging as 
the canoe swept on. It took me back to another picture, 
of palm-girt sandy bays, ruined Mahratta forts, and the 
even more graceful bend and swing of the lithe bodies of 
the Ratnagari fishermen. Many a year may I remember 
the sunlit evenings spent on the tranquil river Tim, the 
haunt of the bear and the fox, with the simple, jolly Gilyaks, 
full of fun and always ready to join in a joke, making 
always the best of our situation, whether it was to camp 
on a pleasant sandy reach, by the light of a golden sunset, 
or to betake ourselves, soaked and stiff, to a swampy 
stretch, swept by a biting wind. Not even when we were 
in danger of crossing their sacred beliefs did they get 
angry with us ; only putting us gently on the right way 



FROM NIVO TO IRR KIRR 293 

they saved us from deadly sin. Happily we had not 
fallen into the hands of bigoted or orthodox civilized 
peoples. 

Tol ni vookh y the great lord of the element to which we 
had entrusted ourselves, showed himself merciful even to 
unbelievers. In the course of that afternoon, the canoe 
with the five punters had gained considerably upon us, and 
as we neared an enticing creek on our right, the haunt of 
bears and sables, Vanka suggested this as a short cut. 
We, nothing loth, gave our consent. Here through rapids 
and between fallen logs we threaded our way until we got 
to what appeared to be an impasse. Tree-trunks blocked 
the way, and the current, suddenly impeded, rushed over 
them. Even Vanka declared it to be impossible to go on, 
we must return ; but, having put our hand to the plough, 
we were averse from returning, and I suggested that even 
if the canoe dragged a bit we could haul and push it 
over the snag, and by clinging to the logs we could keep 
the head straight for the rushing water, and get through. 
Each was assigned his part. It was a critical moment, 
and even Vanka turned pale, dusky as he was ; but a 
heave and a turn and a rapid stroke or two, and we were 
beyond the danger. Within two or three minutes we had 
emerged on to the main stream of the Tim, several lengths 
ahead of our competitors. Then Vanka gave way to his 
joy of triumph, and declared that our salvation from a 
watery grave and our success in the race was due to Tol 
ni vookh and to the efficacy of his offering ; for at our last 
halt he had sprinkled a little tobacco on the ashes of our 
fire, whereas the other crew had not. The Gilyak, like a 
child, trusts blindly in a beneficent result from his offer- 
ing, and surely his prayer — his only prayer, Kiskh ni w,uch> 
God give (made sitting on his heels facing his offering) — 
is not unanswered. He begins to be more hopeful, jolly 
and patient, and what more than this is needed in 
hunting ? Try to cause a Gilyak to disbelieve in the 



294 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

efficacy of his offering, and he will recite to you scores 
of names of those who were lazy and omitted to perform 
the usual rites in hunting, and were unsuccessful. To 
quote the words of one of them, " Once I ran away from a 
bear. That happened because I forgot to give an offering 
to the god. The god sent fear into my heart — and the 
skin of a bear is worth ten or fifteen rubles. I was too 
frightened to turn back and spear the beast as I had done 
many a time before. I was afraid because I knew that 
the god had sent him on purpose to remind me of my 
insult to him. Oh how frightful it was. No, the offering 
is very good. You are light-hearted and have no fear ! " 

We had just lighted our camp-fire that night when the 
sound of a distant shot sent us running for our guns ; but 
Vanka assured us it was only Armunka's brother about 
a mile up the river shooting a bear. How they knew, 
except by a process of Gilyak logic, I do not know ; but 
an hour or so later a short cough, followed by two canoes 
shooting round the bend of the river, announced the arrival 
of four Gilyaks, of whom one was Armunka's brother. 
They joined our company round the fire, and the brother 
of the great hunter proceeded to tell how he had seen 
a bear drinking by the river's edge, and had wounded him 
in the side ; but in the darkness it was out of the question 
to follow him up, and therefore he would resume the hunt 
in the morning. 

That night was very cold and frosty. The next day 
broke clear and sunny. The proposed bear-tracking was 
a great temptation, and, though time was pressing, I 
proposed to join our party of four to that of Armunka's 
brother. The five Gilyaks, who were bent on purchasing 
a bear, now left us to pursue their journey. Priming our 
guns, we landed at the spot where Bruin's foot-marks were 
still visible. My interpreter had a Gilyak bear-spear and 
revolver, I had a small-bore rifle, and the seven Gilyaks 
had two spears and three old rifles between them. 



3 

^ 



^ 

* 




FROM NIVO TO IRR KIRR 295 

Clambering up a steep and high bank, grasping tree- 
stems with which to haul ourselves up, we followed the 
natives through the taiga. The forest was thick with 
elder, ash and mountain-ash, birch, poplar, and larch, and 
a dense undergrowth of wild-rose, spiraea, and whortle- 
berries. Great giants of the forest lay fallen at every 
three or four steps, and our progress was a crashing 
through scrub, clambering over fallen trunks, and leaping 
into mossy dells, many of the latter having been un- 
mistakably the resting-places of bears. The trees were 
naturally tall, as they grew so thickly, and one fallen larch, 
which I measured by stepping, was noted in my diary as 
145 feet long. 

The natives were very quick in following up the 
tracks. A red stain on a leaf as Bruin brushed by, a 
patch on the green moss where he had rested, or a mark 
on a tree where, in his pain, he had tried to rub away 
the irritation, every sign was quickly noted. At length, 
however, even they came to an end of their reading of 
bear-prints. A circle was formed, and we searched in 
ever-widening range, but not a trace could be found. 
They decided that it must be given up ; but learning 
that there was a Gilyak village at no great distance up 
the river, I insisted on their sending for the dogs. We 
therefore returned guided through the jungle by the 
natives, to our canoe, had a frugal midday meal, and 
started out once more with the dogs and a reinforcement 
of one or two old men and four guns. Now we had to 
restrain our ardour, and not press forward, but let the 
dogs find the scent. Their barking would be the signal 
of their coming up with the bear. The dogs ran hither 
and thither, and we watched and strained our eyes and 
ears, holding ourself in readiness to follow up as quickly 
as the obstacles in our path would allow us. Suddenly 
the sound of a shot rang through the forest, and hastening 
forward, to my disappointment, we came upon an old 



296 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

Gilyak who had shot a teterev, a capercailzie {Tetrao 
urogallns). Another false alarm, this time from dogs, 
and nothing further happened until our natives, coming 
in from different directions, brought news that the bear 
had not been so severely wounded as they thought. 
He had gone a great distance, and it might take a 
day or two before we could come up with him, and so 
reluctantly we had to give up the hunt. 

The autumn is not, of course, the season for bear- 
hunting, since Bruin has only his poor summer-coat on, 
which is of small value as fur. Early spring is the best 
time, though hunger or venturous hunters may rouse him 
from his torpor in mid-winter. When he comes forth 
from his cave, half awake, and driven by the smoke of a 
fire kindled in front, or by the sticks and stones of the 
hunters, one of the surrounding circle of Gilyaks lets fly 
an arrow at him, or the whole party attempt to drive him 
down a favourite track, where is placed a yu-ru (an auto- 
matic bow and arrow). As his foot touches the cord the 
iron-pointed arrow is released and pierces his side. With 
a snarl of pain he turns on his pursuers, who scatter in 
all directions, some climbing trees. One, however, is too 
late, and the bear is upon him, and has him already in 
his deadly embrace. The unfortunate victim's companions 
approach and try to attract the beast's attention. They 
worry him with sticks and stones, and when he drops the 
unfortunate man, one of them stands unflinchingly waiting 
the onslaught of the infuriated animal. It seems madness 
to stand thus, for he makes no attempt to thrust at Bruin 
with his spear ; but it would be useless to do so, for he 
knows too well that the bear is a master at the art of 
parrying. He holds his spear apparently quite harmlessly, 
for the shaft rests on the ground behind him, and the 
point on a level with his chest is hidden beneath his 
tunic. It is a terribly anxious moment. How can the 
man escape ? The raging beast is now flinging himself 



FROM NIVO TO IRR KIRR 297 

upon him. All hope is gone. But no. What has 
happened ? The bear is wounded and the man is safe, 
for as the animal hurled himself at the hunter, the latter, 
in the twinkling of an eye, stepped back a pace without 
moving the spear, and the great beast impaled himself 
upon it. The animal is still very dangerous ; but his 
movements are impeded by the spear. On the shaft is a 
crescent-shaped piece of iron, for such is Bruin's cunning 
that he is said sometimes to push the spear further 
through his body so that it may not hinder him in his 
angry pursuit of the hunters. His efforts now grow 
weaker from loss of blood, and finally he sinks down dead. 

The real bear-hunting season is rather later. As soon 
as the snow begins to thaw, and the tiny streams are let 
loose in the high valleys, the chief inhabitant of the forest 
emerges from his winter's sleep and seeks food, going 
backwards and forwards among the mountains. This is 
the opportunity of the native hunters. The Gilyaks 
discover his favourite routes, and set their yu-ru. An 
unsuspecting beast trips over the cord, which lets fly the 
arrow automatically, and wounds, but does not kill him. 
Nevertheless, he leaves his bloody tracks, and the hunters, 
following these up, worry him until, exhausted, he falls a 
prey to an archer or the owner of an old shot-gun. The 
carcase is then drawn on a sledge to their village, and after 
two or three days a feast is held. During the winter such 
a lucky find is a welcome addition to their menu, to say 
nothing of the prospective value of the skin. 

In addition to the bear, there are three other of the 
larger beasts which are welcome prey to the Gilyak hunters, 
the musk deer {Moschus moschiferus), the fox (Cams vulpes), 
and the reindeer (Cervus tarandus). 

On the tops of the mountains the native finds the kabaga> 
as the Russians call the Moschus moschiferus, a very small 
species of which is found on Sakhalin. Those I have seen 
were about the size of a half-grown kid, and had two tusks, 



298 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

similar to a wild boar's. Such is its agility in springing 
from rock to rock, and its deftness in running along ledges 
which yield room only for its tiny hoofs, that the Gilyak 
knows, with all his skill and experience, it is impossible to 
catch it in pursuit. He therefore sets snares, and, having 
observed that this little animal has exceptionally cleanly 
and regular habits, he is able to make sure of the track, and 
to snare it. 

About the same time of the year is set the kas-ma, or 
fox-trap, and this is particularly interesting from its 
extraordinary simplicity. The Gilyak takes a stick with a 
fork in it, and cuts it very carefully to the required length. 
In the fork of this piece he ties a piece of flesh, wrapped in 
a rag to prevent the birds eating it. Master Reynard, 
coming along, suddenly feels the pangs of hunger especially 
poignant as his eyes fall on the meat. How good it smells ! 
Cautiously approaching, and raising himself hesitatingly on 
his hind-legs, he sniffs, and tries in vain to reach the bait 
with his mouth. It is too high. He then tries with his 
paw, but the meat is firmly tied. Fairly roused now, he 
tries again and again until, with a great effort, he " o'er 
reaches himself," and lands his paw in the fork of the stick 
and cannot withdraw it. There he stands, helpless, with 
his paw up, until the Gilyak comes to examine his traps. 
Poor Reynard ! His position is so ludicrous that one 
cannot help laughing at him. 

It reminds one of the description of his favourite 
preacher by an enthusiastic admirer. He wished to 
impress his hearer with the soundness, as well as the 
spiritual eloquence, of the minister, and pictured him to 
his delighted auditor as " having one foot planted firmly 
on the earth, while with the other he pointed to heaven ! " 

All these traps and snares of the Gilyaks are of use in 
calm weather, especially at the beginning and end of winter, 
when the snow- covering is yet thin, but with the arrival of 
storms, snares and tracks are covered up. The native has 



FROM NIVO TO IRR KIRR 299 

learnt to know Nature in all her moods, and, recognizing 
the approach of a gale, gathers up his traps before they 
shall be lost, vowing in his heart that even the storms shall 
yield their prey. 

The sky is already wrapped in swaddling clothes of 
snow. The north wind blows, and sweeps through the 
forest with howls ; blast after blast succeeds, and clouds of 
driven snow whirl by. The buran is upon him, and he 
knows it will endure for a long time with its bitter cold. A 
group of reindeer is huddled together on the borders of the 
forest. They are standing with their heads to the ground, 
for even they are cold to the bone. Blinded by the snow, 
their keen sight and power of smell having failed them in 
this weather, they have forgotten all caution, yet stand 
shivering and trembling in fear of bear or man. But what 
is happening? There is a slight stir. They have seen 
some dark objects, and in a momentary lull of the storm 
have fled helter-skelter into the forest. Their hoofs sink 
deep into the snow, and, distracted by fear, their antlers do 
not clear the trees with the unerring dexterity of calmer 
moments. Dark figures, in shaggy skins, glide like 
lightning after them. For long have they tracked this 
herd on skis, and waited just this opportunity of the buran 
to catch them. Each hunter has a knife in his hand. To 
shoot in this weather, and while running, is impossible, but 
a good knife will not betray him. 

Suddenly a whitish-grey great buck is caught, Absalom- 
wise, in a tree, and struggles in vain to free himself. Like a 
bird the wild man is up with it, and, catching it by the 
antlers, stabs it under the shoulder. With a gasp the animal 
falls, and the hunter, quickly stripping off the skin, sits 
quietly down and begins to feast. He was born, and has 
his home, in the buran. 



CHAPTER XVI 
A RIDE THROUGH THE « TAIGA" 

Irr Kirr— The bears' constitutional — A salmon for id. — Ado Tim — 
The difficulties of riding in a telyega— Miserable settlements — 
An exciting ride — The 19th of the month — Rikovsk prison — 
Sophie Bliiffstein — An extraordinary career — Refuge from a'storm 
— A convict home. 

LATER in the afternoon of the bear tracking we 
arrived at the village of Irr Kirr, the home of 
Armunka. It was with some expectation that we 
had looked forward to meeting the family, and seeing the 
home and possessions of so renowned a hunter and scion 
of a noble house. We were disappointed, however, for 
nothing about the establishment or family, so far as we 
could see, denoted its proud position. The hut was of 
very moderate size, and rather scantily garnished with the 
usual medley of snares, skins, and domestic utensils. 

The paternal acres were not to be seen, for of the 
possession of land in our sense of the word the Gilyaks 
have no conception. The nearest approach to it was a 
prescriptive right, sanctioned by immemorial custom, to 
place snares along certain creeks. The right of all to roam 
over the land in hunting was freely recognized ; but they 
would have resented the placing of snares in chosen creeks 
and backwaters by the Tungus and Orochons, although, 
rather than provoke hostilities, they would have simply 
gone elsewhere. As among themselves, the division of 
the creeks and tracks for snaring had been made in olden 

300 



A RIDE THROUGH THE "TAIGA" 301 

times ; and the customary boundaries sanctioned by time 
are seldom transgressed. The abundance of game, coupled 
with the prowess of the pioneers, yielded little cause for 
quarrel, and spots were simply annexed according to the 
number of snares which the owner of the hut possessed. 
Here and there a dispute arose, and was settled by reference 
to the klenu, the elders in council, or by duels. In the latter 
case the disputants fought with a weapon like a hedge-bill, 
with a straight blade ; but as they were always surrounded 
by a goodly concourse, the combatants were parted when 
either became exhausted, and the duel was not allowed to 
have a fatal ending. 

Of the inhabitants of the hut, neither the father of 
Armunka nor his sister were in any way striking, but his 
younger brother drew our attention on account of his 
delicate, almost girlish features, the effect of which was 
heightened perhaps in the eyes of a Westerner by the 
hairlessness of his face and the wearing of his hair in a 
queue. The wealth of the family consisted in the posses- 
sion of several bears ; and as I was desirous of seeing these 
creatures brought out for their constitutional, I suggested 
that it was high time they had a walk. Here, however, as at 
the village where we had called the evening before, the men 
were mostly away ; and the remainder pleaded an insuffi- 
cient force to tackle Bruin. Nevertheless, for half a ruble 
they agreed to get out two of the three-months-old cubs. 

Armunka and Vanka joined the party, and a few of the 
roofing-logs having been removed from the cage, and nooses 
of thongs having been let in and cleverly looped round 
the animals' necks, two of the men began to haul. Unlike 
the adult bears, which eagerly scramble out, the cubs were 
somewhat frightened at first, struggled, and got the noose 
uncomfortably tight so that one of the Gilyaks had to 
come forward and warily assist them out from behind. 

When once out, they lost all sense of fear, and became 
frantically angry and spiteful. Held by four men, two to 



302 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

each, they snarled and scratched and turned somersaults 
in their attempts to get at us ; and forced us to retire again 
and again before their threatened onslaughts. After they 
hadibeen photographed, as it was growing dusk, the Gilyaks 
proceeded to get them back into their cage. It was no 
easy matter, but an experienced elder coming up at the 
critical moment, seized them one at a time just behind 
the ears, and before they could scratch the cubs found 
themselves on the floor of the cage. Having bartered for 
two fine, but headless, dog-skins, whose owners had probably 
been sacrificed at the bear festival or a funeral, we embarked 
again, and paddled on past many shoals, now redolent of 
dead fish cast up from the spawning hosts, in search of a 
camping-ground. 

The next morning found Vanka in excellent spirits, and 
anxious to further his education. The English language 
as indulged in by me, had already excited his curiosity, 
and he had mastered the English words for the Russian 
medviet (bear) and riba (fish), and now he asked, pointing 
upwards, what was the English for solntse (sun) and luna 
(moon). The Russian custom of addressing a person by 
his patronymic, and only officially by his surname, or as 
they say, family name, is probably familiar to the reader. 
Vanka having forgotten, after a few minutes' paddling, the 
new English words we had taught him, stopped, leaned 
forward and asked, " I forget, what did you say was the 
family name of the solntse (sun) ? " 

This day we halted at Vanka's native village, Kherivo, 
where his mother came down to greet him. There was 
apparently no outward sign of affection between them, but 
the race is undemonstrative, and as I have already said, 
does not salute. He fetched some more seal-oil, and 
resumed the journey almost immediately. 

For the last two days our larder had been low, we had 
seen no ducks, and the capercailzie shot in the taiga by 
the old Gilyak, and bought by us for half a pound of 



A RIDE THROUGH THE "TAIGA" 303 

tobacco, had sufficed for one meal ; and for the rest boiled 
rice and brick- tea did duty. We therefore hailed with joy, 
on the third day, a native canoe with an unexpected catch 
of kita, the last of the season. Vanka, without a moment's 
delay, whipped off the head of one, and was greedily 
devouring it while we, choosing another, weighing about 
18 or 20 lbs., paid the modest sum of four kopyeks (id.) 
for it. 

We were now nearing Ado Tim, the village whence 
we had started to descend the river with the Russian 
ex-convicts. Our crew had agreed to take us thus far, but 
for the twenty miles to Slavo, which we had done on our 
outward journey by canoe, we must arrange as best we 
could. 

At 5 p.m. we landed at the already familiar spot, with 
the prospect, after many cold nights on the river-bank, of 
a comfortable night in the hut of Madame Gregoriev and 
her " man." The Russian settlement lying a little distance 
from the river, and our baggage being considerable, two 
journeys had to be made. I elected to stay and guard 
half of it, while the others carried off the other half and 
warned our hostess of our arrival. 

Standing thus alone and gazing around on the scene, I 
was impressed with the beauty, rather than the wildness of 
it ; for the untamedness of the scenery had been the 
dominant note of all we had seen during the last three 
weeks. Beyond the river stretched a wooded level, and 
back of this rose the hills, thickly clad and gay with 
autumn tints, and away behind all stood up the purple 
mountains, crowned here and there with snowy whiteness. 
The sky was a clear blue, flushed with the rose of sunset, 
and a stillness rested on the scene broken only by the 
plash of salmon leaping from the silvery surface of the 
river. There was nothing to spoil the beauty and restful- 
ness of the whole, save the poverty-stricken settlement of 
criminals yonder. 



304 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

A Russian official on the island, who had travelled, 
remarked to me once, " If the English or Americans had 
had this island, what would they not have made of it ? " 

And now, as I stood on the banks of the Tim, I saw in 
my mind's eye before me a hill-station in India. Yonder 
wooded plain was now a smooth shaven level where 
sports of all kinds were going on, girdled by the smiling 
river, in which and on which bathers, anglers, and canoers 
were disporting themselves. The wooded slopes were 
dotted with the bungalows of the Governor and chief 
officials, and last, but not least, the village behind me was 
no longer plunged in poverty and crime. 

Why was it not so ? The Russians would reply that 
they could not afford it, their pay is so small ; and this has 
come to be popularly accepted as an axiom, but when it is 
investigated, and allowances are made for the cheap cost 
of living, the free education of their children — even through 
the university — the convict labour that is often theirs for 
the asking on Sakhalin, I think there is not very much in 
it. But if I yield the point for the sake of argument, the 
amount of money spent on champagne, gambled away at 
cards and spent in ways not to be mentioned, would in 
most cases allow of the change to the " hills." The sporting 
instinct is not however Russian, and in this they know not 
how much they lose. If it has done so much for us 
in India in keeping life sane, it is needed not only in 
Siberia, but in Russia itself, where provincial life is 
stagnant, and villages being separated by great distances, 
the life of the officials is monotonous beyond measure. 

Half an hour later saw us comfortably settled in the 
hut of our ex-convict host and hostess, where we had been 
expected two or three days previously. All our doings, 
how much we had paid in rice, tobacco, etc., for this article 
and for that, were common knowledge, the news having 
travelled in that mysterious manner and with that extra- 
ordinary rapidity common among natives. 



A RIDE THROUGH THE "TAIGA" 305 

Madame Gregoriev was soon in a whirl of preparations 
befitting the status of her guests. It was the season of 
the potato crop, and she had been busy since early morning 
in digging and carrying her crop to the hut. Dropping on 
her knees in her great top-boots, she lifted a trap-door in 
the floor and displayed a store of hundreds of puds. She 
had that day, so she told us, dug up no less than twenty 
puds (722 lbs.). With pride she declared, " I am from 
Little Russia. I work hard. I dig all around and beneath 
the plants. I don't only scratch so (suiting the action to 
the word), as the Great Russians do, and that is why I get 
so many ! " 

While supper was preparing, my interpreter, whose 
boots had suffered during a three weeks' absence of black- 
ing, inquired whether there was a cobbler in the village. 
"Yes," replied Madame G., "but I would not trust him 
with one of your boots to-night, for he is playing cards ! " 
This was always one of the difficulties that met one, 
whether in Alexandrovsk or in the smaller settlements, the 
uncertainty of getting any article back that was taken to 
be repaired or sent as a pattern. Frequently the craftsman 
was too poor, or, at least, said he was, to buy the required 
material, and there was no way out of it but to add to the 
risk and make him a small advance of cash. The most 
unlikely articles came in handy in gambling, and money 
was by no means indispensable — clothes, rations, and even 
" futures " being staked. Walking at night through 
Alexandrovsk, I have often seen the flickering lights from 
huts on the outskirts, where the gamblers, both men and 
women, were busy. A woman will go dressed in half a 
dozen coats, and stake and lose them, one by one, at the 
game. Not only so, but even the officials' property, either 
stolen or left for repair, will disappear in this way, and 
there is no redress. The man can be put into prison, but 
that does not produce the article or the money. 

While we were awaiting supper, Vanka turned up to 

X 



306 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

receive payment for his services. He had had some 
advances, and there remained twenty-one rubles to pay him. 
Sitting on the window-sill together, I counted out, in 
Russian, seven three-ruble notes. It naturally took him 
some considerable time to verify the amount, and then, 
having assured himself that it was correct, he began to 
portion out, in prospective, various sums for luxuries and 
necessaries. Two of the notes were for vodka, one was for 
rice, and another for gunpowder. To my astonishment he 
drew forth a Russian purse, and began to place in separate 
divisions the notes assigned for the different purchases. 
This was a very serious business, for I was told that, when 
he came to make his purchases in the course of a day or 
two, there would be great trouble, a terrible racking of 
brains, to remember which ruble note had been assigned to 
the particular purpose. It was probable that in the end 
he would have to give up the solution of the problem and 
start afresh. 

At present, however, he was in high spirits, for two or 
three days since there had been a bear-hunt by his friends 
of Ado Tim, in which a dam and two cubs had fallen to 
their prowess. One old Gilyak described to me how the 
hunt had gone. Starting out with the dogs, they had come 
up with the cKuff and cubs in the forest, and the dogs 
immediately began to worry the cubs, biting at their hind- 
legs until the mother bear called to them to " take care," 
and run up a tree. This they did, but, meanwhile, the dam 
was shot. An experienced hunter then proceeded to 
follow the cubs with a seal-hide noose in his hand. With 
this he lassoed them, and, descending, forced them to 
climb down by degrees. The carcase of the dead animal 
was then placed upon a sledge drawn by the dogs, and the 
orphaned cubs were led, pushed, and dragged to the village. 
Hence on the morrow there was to be a great holiday 
fete, and Gilyaks from all around were coming in to 
celebrate it. 



A RIDE THROUGH THE "TAIGA" 307 

Before retiring to rest that night our host and hostess, 
with true politeness, offered to lend us their bed, and to 
sleep in the next " room." Our curiosity was aroused as 
to where this other room could be, but we were soon 
enlightened when opening a tiny door near the stove, we 
heard the unmistakable remarks, in the bass, of pigs ! 

To reach Alexandrovsk from Ado Tim it was necessary 
to go first to Slavo, and thence to Derbensk, whence we 
could post the rest of the way, There were no posting 
arrangements between Ado Tim and Derbensk, a distance of 
forty-three versts, and, considering that it was for the most 
part a mere forest track, it was scarcely to be expected. The 
officials, however, sometimes got horses sent on to Ado 
Tim, and the police-officer whom we had overtaken and 
passed gave us permission to use the horses he was expect- 
ing ; but these never arrived, and the question of transport 
once more stared us in the face. Money, however, had not 
lost its power, and the offer of twelve rubles was sufficient 
to provide a solution. 

The day before, on our way up the river, some miles 
below Ado Tim, we had seen some semi-wild ponies loose 
in the forest. I had been surprised at this, because of the 
neighbourhood of bears, but the sturdy little animals had 
their methods of defence. They found their safety in 
co-operation, like their masters, who must have their artel. 
Keeping always near together at the scent of danger, they 
form up in a ring, heels outwards, with the foals in the 
centre, and lunge out at the approaching intruder. 

It was proposed that the villagers should send into the 
forest and catch a couple of these animals. Meanwhile a 
telyega, or rough cart, was forthcoming, and a son of one of 
the convicts proposed to drive us as far as Derbensk. In the 
marvellously short time of two hours the ponies had been 
captured and brought to the village, and, apparently 
desirous that we should not underrate their powers, had 
overturned the telyega in a ditch in front of the hut. 



308 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

I am tempted here to turn aside and write a dissertation 
on how to pack a telyega, or on how not to pack one, in 
case the reader should be meditating a trip into the wilds 
of Eastern Siberia ; but I will relent, and only let him 
have my experience. In the first place, the Sakhalin 
telyegd is only a skeleton of half a boat on four wheels — 
very shallow, and, of course, without springs. Into this 
had to be packed all our luggage, our two selves, and the 
driver. We began by duly placing all our chattels in the 
available space, which was, unfortunately, so shallow that 
they overtopped it. Remembering the solemn warnings of 
the Siberian travellers that it is not upon the vehicle, but 
upon one's baggage one must rely for a seat, we could not 
but regard this arrangement as satisfactory and en regie* 
All unsuspicious of the difficulties that awaited us, we 
mounted. So long as the cart remained still our position 
was passably comfortable. It is true there was no back, 
and we were a bit cramped, but such things were only to 
be expected. It was a different story, however, when the 
ponies began to move. We were sitting on two rounded 
hills, from which we threatened to shoot off at any moment. 
We tried sitting up, drawing our knees up so as to allow 
space for the driver to squat, and holding on to anything 
stable to support ourselves. The difficulty was that our 
road was a mere forest track, and the lurch and tilt of the 
vessel over tree-roots, in and out of deep ruts, were the 
normal signs of progress. We called a halt, altered 
the position of our baggage, and tried lying down, but it 
was somewhat like an attempt to lie on the top of an 
unstable ball. 

We lay back, arm in arm, balancing uneasily, and 
shouting to each other in warning against the approaching 
dangers of rut and root. Five times we halted to re-arrange 
and adopt some new method of adhesion ; at the same time 
not neglecting to speculate on the best mode of rolling off 
so as to clear the wheels. 



A RIDE THROUGH THE "TAIGA" 309 

The axles of the cart were of wood, the poles of freshly 
hewn pine, with the bark still adhering, and the harness 
of rope. The track was simply a narrow way cleared by 
fire, and so rough that, our spirited steeds notwithstanding, 
the first twenty versts (13 J miles) took five hours, a speed 
of barely two and three-quarter miles an hour. The forest 
scenery was wild, but beautiful, the larch-trees with their 
brilliant green and the birches paling to autumn gold 
standing out in clear relief against the black pines. Pas- 
sionate red leaves, deepening to purple, lit up the under- 
growth of spiraea, mountain-ash, elder, and wild rose ; 
black charred pine-stumps told of the recent making of 
the track, and in the distance were easily mistaken, at 
first sight, for bears. 

Once or twice we passed a clearing, or rather a poor 
attempt at a clearing, where stood a settlement of a few 
log-huts and some rough meadow-land, almost in a virgin 
state. One of them contained only six inhabitants, all 
men. The huts were about twelve by eighteen feet in 
size, the log walls letting in the cold through the crevices ; 
and the miserable roofs of loose pieces of bark, with a 
hole for chimney, offering poor protection against the rain. 
Inside one would find a table, some boxes for a bed, and 
a home-made stove ; the whole faintly lighted by a small 
paper-mended window. It was a mystery how these poor 
people managed to live, and indeed it was from such places 
that the gangs of brodyagi were recruited. A few grew 
potatoes, and in the larger settlements a " wealthy " settler 
will own some cows or two or three ponies. Potatoes had 
to be bartered for flour, tea, and rice ; and for fish to be 
salted against the winter. Some, even by much scraping, 
were unable to compass this, and, having borrowed in the 
first place seed-potatoes or corn, etc., from the Crown, sank, 
in company with the lazy or hopeless, deeper and deeper 
into debt. In the villages that are large enough to have 
a store, the shopkeeper is generally the rich man and the 



310 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

money-lender. There is then nobody to prevent him 
refusing to supply goods, if he has some petty spite to 
avenge, or compelling the " peasant " to give twice the 
usual quantity of potatoes in exchange for flour, rice, or 
salt. 

The poor " exile-settler " is also at the mercy of any 
official who may choose to tyrannize over him, and un- 
fortunately for those in the Alexandrovsk okrug, the 
smotritel poselenie, or Chief of the exile department, was 
a man of very bad repute. It is not surprising therefore 
that in many cases not only was the newly made exile 
sent to spots unsuitable for the cultivation with which 
he was familiar, as a Caucasian to lowlands and a Great 
Russian to hilly country, but in many cases to swamps 
where existence was impossible. So far away were some 
of these spots that no stores, not even those due to them 
as rations for the first two years, could ever reach them. 
One, whose authority on the island was unquestioned, not 
only confirmed this, but gave an instance of one settle- 
ment which was so surrounded by swamps that no one 
could get to or from it for two whole years. I leave the 
reader to picture the condition of these poor wretches, who 
had to depend upon potatoes and berries for food, and 
ragged clothing for protection against a winter's cold 
reaching to 40 and 50 below zero. 

Slavo was not reached until four o'clock, and though 
we had further to go than we had already come, a short 
halt was called to eat a meal and partially dry our clothes. 
It had rained for the last two or three hours, and we were 
cramped, cold, and wet. Choosing a house which looked 
less poverty-stricken than the rest, we sent our driver to 
inquire if we might drink tea there, and permission being 
readily accorded, wet, muddy, and bedraggled we entered, 
taking our provisions with us. In the kitchen were two or 
three women and children, and we waited there while the 
usual preliminary for a stranger, the hasty sweeping out 



A RIDE THROUGH THE " TAIGA" 311 

of the best room, was gone through. The " best " room, 
the only one besides the kitchen, did duty as bed, sitting, 
and dining room, and contained a cradle, a gun, a table, 
two or three chairs, a shuba or two hanging from pegs, 
and the usual prints of the Tsar and Tsaritsa, with the 
additional mural decoration of a picture symbolizing the 
progress of man from the cradle to the grave. 

Warmed within and cleaned without, for the hostess 
had poured a pail of water over me in order to get rid 
of superfluous mud, we started again for Derbensk, twenty- 
three versts distant. We might have known that it was 
impossible to reach it at the pace we were going ; but 
what was to be done ? Our only thought was to push on, 
but we had inadequately estimated the difficulties. Our 
driver, an inexperienced youth of about nineteen, grew 
seriously alarmed ; he had not contemplated being on 
the road after dark, and had hoped to have reached 
Derbensk before dusk. Rain continued to fall ; the road 
was difficult, and above all the bridges were a source of 
fright to the ponies, for the loose pine-poles, laid on the 
simple framework of a bridge, shifted and thundered under 
their feet. The heavens clouded and darkness fell early ; 
the forest grew denser and denser, and our yamshtchik> 
the son of a convict himself, became more and more 
nervous. 

He had not bargained for this. We had been lolling 
in the least uncomfortable positions we could assume, 
holding on at critical points ; and now he begged us, 
"Will the barini sit up, back to back, facing each into 
the forest, and shoot the moment that they see anything 
move," while he declared in anxious tones that he would 
do his best to keep his scared animals in hand. That 
did not promise much, for he was a poor driver, and had 
little control over his half-savage horses. At a miserable 
crawl of three miles an hour, we could place no hope in 
the swiftness of our steeds. The road was dangerous 



312 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

enough from brodyagi even by day, and our return had 
been expected for two or three days. 

A free fight in the open or by daylight, when you 
could see your opponent, was one thing, but this was 
quite another. It was anything but a comfortable sensa- 
tion to feel that you might be picked off from any point 
in this blank darkness without being able to single out 
your assailant. To shoot at a moving object was easy, 
for what doesn't move under such circumstances? But 
in the blackness it was difficult to make out anything 
definitely a few yards away, though we peered alternately 
into the forest and back along the track. Unpleasant 
as it was awaiting the chances of being shot, I think, if I 
must confess, I disliked more the navigation of the bridges 
that followed. These were convict-made with pine-poles 
for supports, cross-pieces, and flooring. The last consisted, 
as I have said, of poles just laid on the cross-pieces. To 
add to the simplicity of the structure there was no rail, 
and should the horses swerve to either side, a tilting 
of the poles would land us, cart, baggage and all, in the 
mountain-stream below. There was not wanting a further 
addition to the excitement of negotiating these " bridges." 
No attempt had been made at graduating the steep sides 
of the ravines, and our primitive vehicle boasted no brake. 
There was, therefore, nothing to be done but to let go 
full speed down the steeps, and take the bridge at a gallop 
in order to surmount the slopes on the other side. It 
was more than exciting, calculating the chances, at express 
speed, of our striking the middle of the bridge which lay 
below, shrouded in darkness. Two hours of this exhilarating 
kind of travel brought us to the settlement of Uskovo. 
This was a village rather larger than the usual, containing 
about two hundred souls, and we decided to try and 
find shelter there. 

Compared with the flickering dips in the other cottages, 
the first house of the village was aglow with light, and 



A RIDE THROUGH THE "TAIGA" 313 

rightly guessing that it was the overseer s, we found him 
full of alacrity in offering hospitality to the "eminent 
travellers." Our driver was stowed in a loft, and we were 
led into the family sitting and bedroom, where a stove 
was quickly lighted, and our wet clothes and rugs hung 
up to dry. Even the accommodation at the Waldorf 
Astoria could not compare with the luxury that night 
of a warm room, a supper of black bread and butter, and 
a bed of hay on the floor. 

Our host enjoyed the magnificent salary of twenty-five 
rubles (2 J guineas) per month, and was responsible, as 
already mentioned, for the multitudinous duties of the 
administration and policing of his district. 

The cottage was bare and poor-looking according to an 
English labourer's notions, but by the peasants of the 
village regarded as a well-to-do home. There was only 
one bed in the room, on which the overseer and his wife 
slept, while their child lay upon a couple of chairs ; and 
when in the morning I paid them three rubles for our 
supper, bed, and breakfast, they were overjoyed at the large- 
ness of the sum. 

I had proposed to give them a five-ruble note and ask 
for change, but my intrepreter stopped me, saying — 

" It is the nineteenth of the month." 

" What do you mean ? " 

"Why," replied he, "the twentieth is pay-day, and 
didn't you notice that they took out the last spoonful of 
tea at breakfast ? " 

Uskovo was considered a fairly well-to-do, in fact, a 
large village, but the overseer plumbed its poverty when 
he said, with much impressiveness, " The store has actually 
no sweets whatever for the children ! " 

Opposite our host's, at the entrance to the village, in 
the green space where the road was understood to be, was 
a wooden cross, protected by a tiny triangular fence. This 
was the sacred spot of the village. As in the early Saxon 



3H IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

days in England, a cross marked the place where the 
priest came occasionally from the minster or Mother 
Church, to hold service in outlying districts, so it was here. 
Very seldom, perhaps once or twice in the year, a Russian 
priest passed this way and read the service at this spot. 
If he happen to come on St. George's Day (April 23, O.S.), 
he takes his stand by the cross and sprinkles the cows with 
holy water, as they go out to pasture for the first time in 
the season. 

From Uskovo the journey to Derbensk was accomplished 
before midday. Here we were welcomed by the ex-overseer, 
with whom we had previously stayed ; and furbishing 
ourselves up as best we might, we posted south for fifteen 
versts to pay our promised visit to the Chief of the Timovsk 
district at Rikovsk. 

A beautiful day had succeeded the storm of the previous 
day, and the change from the crawling telyega to a galloping 
troika, covering the ten miles in just over the hour on a 
very rough road, was most delightful. Several convoys of 
provisions, drawn by oxen and guarded by soldiers, were 
overtaken ; indeed our izvostchik seemed to think that 
everything had to be passed, whether we went into the 
ditches to do it or not ; and was only held back by the 
" tislie, tishe ! " (gently, gently !) of my companion. Rikovsk, 
our destination, is the centre of administration of the 
Timovsk okrug, one of the three districts into which the 
island is divided. The most prominent buildings are the 
fine wooden church, built by the convicts, a large prison, 
and the house of the chief. This official ranks as the third 
or fourth man on the island, being responsible, like his 
brother officers of the Alexandrovsk and Korsakovsk 
okrugi, to the Governor only. We found him entertaining 
several guests — officials — but he welcomed us, and we all 
sat down to a table surprisingly well-spread for Sakhalin. 
The Russians are excellent makers of soup, though a 
Westerner finds this course, unlike his own, a meal in itself. 



A RIDE THROUGH THE " TAIGA" 315 

The same may be said of their zakuska, or preliminary 
course of hors cFceuvres. Side dishes of delicacies, anchovies, 
bacon, sardines, ikra (caviare), etc., freely partaken of as 
the Russians do, would satisfy any ordinary Englishman, 
before he entered upon the more serious portion of the 
meal. After dinner, talk ran upon the native races which 
inhabited the district ruled over by our host, their origin, 
numbers, the causes of their dying out, etc. In the 
course of the discussion of this last point a younger 
official, who became interested, suggested that the Russians 
had been responsible for introducing small-pox and diph- 
theria. Whereupon the chief angrily quashed him with, 
"The Englishman must not know that, or he will write 
about it." It was not therefore likely, when the Chief 
himself offered to take me over the prison, that I should be 
shown the worst side of things ; in fact, the same under- 
official suggested my visiting a portion of the older prison, 
but the idea was immediately scouted. First we entered 
the new portion, which contained the single cells, an innova- 
tion which the Chief took some responsibility for, and was 
evidently proud of. Certainly everything in this portion of 
the prison was up-to-date. The prisoners had better and 
cleaner accommodation than I had yet seen, including a 
flap-table, flap-plank bed, and a stool, and were even 
allowed an hour's exercise a day unless there were 
many of them, in which case it was cut down to half 
an hour. 

Yet this single-cell system, which was the new and 
improved method to be adopted throughout the Empire, 
was by no means a satisfactory solution of the difficult 
penal question. It might be better than the indiscriminate 
mixing in the kameri if work, productive work, were allowed 
them out of the cells ; but the long weary years of confine- 
ment, the terrible ennui, more especially to an unlettered 
person who could not avail himself of the scanty literature 
of the prison library, were these likely to reform the 



316 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

criminal ? It would be indeed a miracle if he emerged 
sane. 

One of these we saw. He was under sentence of twenty- 
years, which might be shortened a little by good behaviour, 
doubtful in his case, or by a Manifesto of the Tsar on 
some great Imperial event. He was one of the Barratas- 
vili band, indeed the only one who had not been executed. 
Our party, including the gaolers, clanked along the 
corridor, and brought up suddenly at one of the ominous- 
looking doors. Uncovering the grille, the chief, who was 
a very big man, peered in, the warder warning him that the 
prisoner was dangerous. The nachalnik y with perhaps 
pardonable show of courage, ordered the gaoler to unlock 
and unbolt the door ; and I had a glance at the prisoner, 
sullen and dreadfully pallid, cowering like a wild beast. 
Despite another warning from the warder, his superior 
entered, and was locked in for two or three minutes with 
the prisoner. 

Another, whom I was shown, was a member of a 
gang of five pictured in the illustration, who had 
attacked and murdered three soldiers camping in a shelter 
in the forest. This one, who is on the extreme right in 
the picture, alone escaped hanging. Yet another was 
pointed out to me who, having previously escaped from 
prison, presented himself boldly in broad daylight at a 
house in Alexandrovsk, which was temporarily in charge 
of a soldier. He said he had been sent by the kappellmeister 
for the musical instruments, but before the soldier had 
time to reply the brodyaga had felled him with an axe or 
a club. Finishing his ghastly work with a knife, the 
murderer dragged the corpse to a trap-door in the floor, 
and dropped it into the potato-cellar. This happened 
about midday, and the baker calling shortly afterwards, 
and spying blood on the floor as he came in to deposit 
the loaf, immediately suspected foul play, and shouted, 
" Help, help ! " Two men hurried up in answer to his cries* 






„5J 




A RIDE THROUGH THE " TAIGA" 317 

and held the doors. The prisoner then made for a window, 
but the Military Governor (predecessor of the present) was 
passing at the time, and seeing a disturbance, ran up just 
in time to receive the prisoner as he leaped through the 
window. 

On the whole the prisoners were fortunate in having 
Mr. S. as the nachalnik of the district in which their 
prison lay. He was energetic, not unkindly disposed, and 
clear-headed enough to see through attempts to deceive 
him. Of his private life I do not intend to speak. 

The following was told me by one who was no friend 
of his, and therefore carries the more weight. A political 
exile had been appointed school teacher in his district, and 
the chief arranged to pay him twenty-five rubles a month. 
The salary, like the rations given to an " exile-settler " in 
his first or second year, was payable at the end of the 
month. Any remonstrance, to the effect that a man might 
starve before that time, was met by the official reply that 
on the other hand, if the provisions or payment were made 
in advance, and the man died before the end of the month, 
the Crown would lose. 

The chief, knowing the poverty of the political exile, 
ordered him to be paid fifteen rubles at the outset, and 
when the officials responsible urged that it was not safe, 
and that a receipt ought to be taken, replied, " Nonsense, 
dock five rubles a month off his salary until it is paid." 

It is true that some of the prisoners in these single 
cells give their gaolers considerable trouble, but the cruel 
beatings that these same soldiers give on the sly cannot 
always be accounted for thus. The prisoners all wore a 
painfully cowed look, for the hand of the law does not 
stretch out to Sakhalin as it does nearer home. Less than 
a year previous the Chief of a Caucasian prison had beaten 
a man nearly to death. The procureur happened to visit 
this prison a week afterwards, and observing this prisoner 
evidently ill, asked why he was not in the infirmary. The 



318 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

Chief replied that he had been well an hour previous. 
"For shame," called out the convict, "you know you 
yourself beat me, and nearly killed me a week ago." The 
doctor was called, and on examination the man was found 
to have three ribs broken; and the Chief of the prison was 
sentenced to hard labour. 

The procureur and judges are thus able to interfere in 
favour of the prisoner or the accused, and the following is 
an instance of such on Sakhalin, and was told me by the 
thrifty and properous farmer of Uskovo. He was walking 
along the road one day, when he saw an old man being 
cruelly beaten by two soldiers. He watched them until he 
could stand it no longer, and then called out — 

" What are you doing ? " 

They immediately left the old man, and coming up to him 
said, " Go ! " " What do you mean ? " he asked ; but they 
only repeated more loudly, " Go, go ! " at the same time 
threatening him with the butt-ends of their rifles. He 
remonstrated, and asked, " Where am I to go ? " But by 
this time argument was of no avail, and he was forced to 
march straight ahead. Arrived at the prison they accused 
him of disobeying the authorities. The Chief of the prison 
would hear nothing from such a " turbulent fellow," and 
clapped him into gaol to await trial. He was then brought 
up before the Chief of the district, who no doubt saw 
through it, but in this case being very anxious, for 
private reasons not to be mentioned, to keep on good 
terms with the Chief of the prison, he reprimanded the 
man and remanded him for trial. Fortunately the judge, 
who arrived in due course from Vladivostok, was a clever, 
upright man, and he detected the fraud and dismissed the 
prisoner. 

The itinerary judges visit Sakhalin once a year, in July ; 
hence most of those poor wretches who had been arrested, 
and whom I saw herded together in a large bare room 
behind iron bars, would have to wait ten months before 



A RIDE THROUGH THE "TAIGA" 319 

their trial came on. It was a miserable and demoralizing 
company for those who were innocent. From this I went 
over to the lazaret, where the rooms were well warmed, 
lighted, and clean, and there were but few patients. One 
poor miserable wretch, suffering from a horrible disease, 
thinking I was a medical doctor, implored me to take him 
to some mineral spring. 

In the course of the evening, for the Chief had 
hospitably dissuaded me from returning to Derbensk that 
day, the nachalnik of the prison called on Mr. S. to make 
up the report of the Crown lands. In England we are 
accustomed to look upon officially compiled statistics, how- 
ever much their interpretation may differ, as unimpeach- 
able. The traveller learns that the same implicit trust 
must be tempered with suspicion of party purposes in the 
Antipodes, but in Russia — well, the following illustrates 
the methods of compilation. 

The prison-master proposed to write down twenty-two 
and a half desyatini * as the Crown area under cultivation ; 
but the Chief of the district said, " No, the Crown will 
expect too much from that, write it down as eighteen. ,, 
As evening proceeded our host grew anxious, and not a 
little irritable, and I began to wonder if I were the 
unwitting cause. That was not so, however, but he was 
worrying over the delay in the arrival of the weekly mail 
from Alexandrovsk, already overdue, and was calculating 
the chances of it having been attacked. Such is the 
atmosphere of life on Sakhalin. 

Rikovsk is famous as the erstwhile residence of a 
convict whose name, a generation ago, was known 
throughout Europe. Sophie Bliiffstein, or the "Golden 
Hand," as she was called, was living here at Rikovsk in 
the early nineties. Hers was a remarkable career. Wan 
and thin from long confinement, the reader will scarcely 
credit, from the illustration, that she was once so beautiful 
* A desyatina — 27 acres (nearly). 



320 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

as to bewitch even her gaolers. It is more than thirty- 
years ago since her escapades, which were to ring through 
Europe, began. She had married, it is said, one of her 
own race, a Jew, who was some sort of agent. His 
affairs early became entangled, and from that time forth 
she played her great role. Her stage was the capitals of 
Europe, and her first victims the great shopkeepers. 
Dressing up as befitted her assumed rank, and driving up 
in style to the chief shops, she would order jewellery, etc. 
to be sent to her address, which, needless to say, was a 
temporary one. Before this was discovered she and her 
husband were many hundreds of miles away ; St. Peters- 
burg, Vienna, Paris, and even London sheltering her in 
turn. She is said to have spent enormous sums of money, 
and to have gained a high position in the fashionable 
world. Young men were attracted by her beauty and 
her remarkable eyes. They fell dupes to her, and she is 
credited with decoying them and robbing them of their 
valuables. Her greatest triumph, however, was yet to 
come. Arrested and thrown into prison at Smolensk, 
she gained such influence over the overseer, that he not 
only connived at her escape, but, deserting wife and 
children, fled with her. She soon, however, threw him 
over, and returned to her old practices. Report has it 
that she was one night involved in one of these young 
men's parties which ended fatally, and, being arrested, 
was despatched to Siberia. Escaping again, she was 
re-captured, and deported to Sakhalin. 

Her escapes by no means ended with her landing on 
the island. At first allowed to live out as a " free-com- 
mand," so many and such serious deeds were laid to her 
account, though never proved, so cleverly had she matured 
her plans, that she was ultimately imprisoned in a single 
cell in the "testing" prison at Alexandrovsk. Before 
this she had leagued herself with many doubtful characters, 
whom she employed as her tools ; and while yet at 



A RIDE THROUGH THE " TAIGA " 321 

liberty she and another murdered a merchant with several 
thousand rubles upon him, down by the pirate vessel 
I have described. She buried the money, and it is 
reported that neither she nor any one else has been able 
to find the money since. Many other crimes, committed 
during the time she spent outside the prison walls, were 
believed to have owed their origin to her, and though 
the authorities could never bring them home, she was 
handcuffed and confined in the Alexandrovsk prison. 
Seven years previous to my visit she had regained her 
liberty in part, and was living at Rikovsk. The sequel 
is not generally known. She was ultimately allowed to 
go to Vladivostok, where she kept an inn until her 
death. 

The post eventually arrived safely that night, though 
late ; and the next morning we in our turn took the same 
route to Alexandrovsk. Reaching Derbensk in the course 
of the morning we once more packed up, and started at 
1.30 for Alexandrovsk, thirty-five miles distant, being 
assured that we should find the tide favourable when we 
reached Arkovo. The scenery had changed its summer 
garb since we last passed over this road, and the autumn- 
tinted leaves were fast falling. At the first stantsiyay 
or little posting-inn, we found the chickens taken 
in for the winter and living under the dresser ; yet I 
noticed with surprise, as we drank our tumblers of tea, 
a hydrangea and fuchsia in blossom in the window. 
Nothing occurred to stop us on our way until Arkovo 
was reached. We passed a few convicts loafing along 
the road, but we were well armed, and they could see 
it. Once, in the gathering darkness, we caught the 
flicker of a spark in the forest like the flash of a gun, 
followed by another, and we listened for the reports ; 
but not a sound broke the stillness of the night, and, 
approaching the spot, we laughed to think that we had 
been deceived by a still smouldering tree-stump. 

Y 



322 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

As we were nearing Arkovo the Third, where came 
our last change of horses, the procureur, in full uniform, 
passed us going inland. With him went one of our 
chances of fresh horses, but if nobody else had taken 
those he had brought from Alexandrovsk, we might 
have them after they had had a rest. In this we were 
disappointed, for when we reached the stantsiya, the 
Rikovsk doctor had engaged the remaining kibitka in 
which to follow the procureur ; and a merchant had 
taken the other horses to return to Alexandrovsk. The 
whole inn was in a stir, and not without reason, for the 
merchant, who was the identical one who had befriended 
me on the night of my arrival, had been in a similar, or 
rather worse condition this evening. He had drunk so 
much champagne and vodka that, though he was reputed 
to do his business best when " muddled," on this occasion 
he had completely lost his head, and on reaching the 
inn, had fired three shots from his revolver as he sat in 
a chair. The fresh marks were there in the ceiling and 
walls when I came to occupy the same seat a few 
minutes after. Everybody had naturally fled for their 
lives, not knowing what such an irresponsible person 
might do. The doctor declared that he had done all 
he could, though he, naturally enough, had been con- 
siderably frightened. He declared that he had fled from 
Alexandrovsk because of the excessive drinking, which 
he could scarcely avoid without offence. I found him 
at the moment suspiciously over-amiable and spontaneous 
in his welcome, and full of protestations of the greatest 
friendship, and thus we parted, he to renew his journey, 
and we to await possibilities. The post-master an- 
nounced that the horses were all out, and there was no 
kibitka available. This was doubly unfortunate, since 
the tide was rising, and every moment diminished our 
chances of being able to get through to Alexandrovsk. 
A little firmness resulted in the appearance, about an hour 



A RIDE THROUGH THE "TAIGA" 323 

later, of a rude telyega and a couple of peasants' horses. 
With a troika, under favourable conditions, we might have 
done the sixteen miles in a couple of hours, or two hours 
and a half, but with this poor substitute, which proceeded 
at the rate of three or four miles an hour, it was impossible, 
even if we breasted the tide, to reach Alexandrovsk until 
long after the place was asleep. Our prospects were not 
bright, for our previous place of abode in Alexandrovsk, 
we had been told, was occupied, and if the finding of a 
lodging — a safe lodging — by day were doubtful, it would 
be impossible after the inhabitants were abed. Neverthe- 
less, we pushed on in a sort of blind way. To add to the 
unpleasantness of our situation, we had only heard the 
night before of the murder of the brother of our former 
landlady at Alexandrovsk, on the sands along which we 
were now to pass. After eighteen days his torn jacket 
had been found, and the watcher on the pirate ship had 
been arrested for the murder, his accomplice of the hut 
at the foot of the cliff being still at large. 

Our way lay through a thickly clad valley, and the 
overhanging trees lining the roadside added to the black- 
ness of a dark night. To carry a lantern would have 
been to invite attack, and yet I wondered how it was 
possible for our yamshtchik to find the way. Indeed, I 
rather think that the horses did it. Sitting back to back, 
as we had done two nights before, my interpreter and I 
kept a sharp look-out for moving objects, for we had 
again been warned by the police. The growing darkness 
was the precursor of a heavy storm, which descended upon 
us before we had got halfway to the beach. This storm, 
which, unknown to us then, favoured the designs of six 
convicts in the great prison at Alexandrovsk, proved kind 
to us also. It is ever on the night of a raging gale, under 
cover of the roar of the tempest, that the prisoners 
make their attempts at escape. These six, we learnt the 
next morning, had lassoed the tops of the fifteen-feet 



324 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

stockade ; and, clambering up and over, had dropped down 
and stolen away when the patrol was taking shelter in 
the sentry-box. Stealing along in the darkness and 
noise, they fled into the very forest which our sea-road 
skirted. 

To us the storm came as the last straw, and seeing 
a hut by the wayside tenanted by a convict, whom my 
companion had known when he had been schoolmaster 
in the village, we sought refuge therein. The owner was 
a " free-command," and a pleasing exception to the general 
run of convicts. His wife had followed him from Europe, 
and, as is the rule, he had been allowed to live outside the 
prison with her on condition of his doing his allotted hard- 
labour duty. This consisted of dragging 120 tree-trunks 
to Alexandrovsk. He had proved himself thrifty, and by 
the aid of a loan from the Crown had purchased ponies, 
with which he managed to do his hard labour in a com- 
paratively short time, thus leaving himself a large remainder 
wherein he could work for himself and family. With a 
foresight and energy that would have won him a position 
anywhere, he had recognized a need in his village, and 
provided for it. From the interior, by this one road, 
passed all the traffic to the " capital," and those who had 
oxen and ponies for sale, and were taking them to the 
bazar or market-place in Alexandrovsk, made this the 
end of one of their stages ; and very naturally so, since 
they had generally to wait for the tide. The little court- 
yard, which generally forms part of all Siberian cottages 
or huts, in his case was extended to make room for the 
cattle ; and the shelters enclosing it provided the drovers 
with beds of hay. The cottage boasted two rooms, occupied 
by our host, his wife, and three children. The eldest, a 
daughter of about twenty, had joined them quite recently 
from the Caucasus, and to her was evidently due a dainti- 
ness, rare in Sakhalin huts, about the little room into which 
we now entered from the kitchen. There was a bedstead 



-o.f 




A RIDE THROUGH THE "TAIGA" 325 

here also, always a sign of affluence on the island, which 
was offered to us ; but we politely refused, electing to 
sleep on the floor. Upon this the daughter went into 
the cow-byre and fetched hay to spread on the floor, 
and then standing by, watched, with a sense of amazement 
stealing over her face, my interpreter spreading our rugs 
and skins on the hay. When this was done, she turned 
to my companion, and asked him — 

" Is the English bavin a very celebrated person ? " 

"Why?" 

"Oh," she said, "I have seen great generals in the 
Caucasus, and they slept on the hay ; I have never seen 
any one sleep on so many rugs before ! " 

I was scarcely prepared for such primitive con- 
ceptions among Russians, and I can assure the reader 
that, had he met us after dark on an English high- 
way, he would have taken us for foot-pads rather than 
princes. 

The next morning a tvoika galloped up from the post 
to take us on to Alexandrovsk. Our way was through 
a winding valley, hemmed in by pine-clad slopes ; in 
summer it was knee-deep in flowers, and the hedges gay 
with clusters of berries, but now all was bleak and cold. 
We had not gone far before a stinging sleet, changing to 
snow, drove down from the Okhotsk Sea. We wrapped 
ourselves from head to foot, for the blast was armed with 
needles, which seemed to pierce our skin. King Frost had 
begun his seven months' reign. Leafless and bare stood 
the great firs and poplars, hard and stern in the wintry 
blast, relieved only by the passionate blood-red tints of 
a tiny mountain-ash, whose clusters of red berries and 
crimson -purple leaves defied the winter's numbing cold. 
A few miles more and we were on the seashore, exposed 
to the full force of the tempest from the north. Here, 
turning our backs to it, we seemed to fly on the wings 
of the storm. How jolly it was ! The lull and the 



326 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

breathing-time after the struggle, and then the yielding 
of one's self up to the strong element to be swept on 
with a great rush. What could have been more enjoyable 
than the gallop over the hard sand and through the sea 
to the merry jingling of bells ? 



CHAPTER XVII 
SCENES AND PERSONS IN ALEXANDROVSK 

Plans for departure — A broken cable — Rumours of war with Japan — 
A reply telegram in nineteen days — Chief buildings of Alexan- 
drovsk — Classification of prisoners — Flogging — The filet — Putrid 
prison rations — The painful story of Mrs. A. — Twenty years in the 
dungeons — " Who are you ? " — Arrival of prisoners — A tale of 
murders. 

ON arrival at Alexandrovsk I and my interpreter, 
whose services I elected to retain until my 
departure from the island, found a temporary 
lodging at the ex-overseer's, as his expected guests had not 
yet arrived. The family was plunged into grief for the 
brother of the wife, and son of the old ex-convict father, 
who had been murdered, but whose body had not yet been 
found. 

Again I had to adopt a Micawber-like attitude with 
regard to my departure from the island. My plans for 
getting back to England had been to return to Nikolaevsk, 
and thence by steamboat up the Amur and Shilka to the 
terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway at Stretensk ; or 
failing that, I had a distant hope that the promised near 
completion of the Manchurian Railway might allow of my 
reaching the Trans-Siberian Railway by that means from 
Vladivostok. Two things prevented my adopting the 
former plan, which had to be followed up at once if at all, 
and even then might result in my spending two months on 
the Amur waiting for the sledging season to commence. 

327 



328 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

Half my baggage, including my travelling furs, had gone 
astray, and my money had given out owing to an extended 
stay. 

The vessel which brought the baggage from Nikolaevsk 
had failed in an attempt to land anything or anybody 
at Alexandrovsk, and so had continued its journey to 
Vladivostok, 800 miles beyond. Fortunately another vessel 
returning was able to put in, and arrived some weeks after, 
just before I was at last able to get away. 

As to money, my bankers at Vladivostok had an agent, 
but not a branch, on Sakhalin, in the person of the ex-convict 
merchant, Mr. Y. My letter of credit was therefore useless 
until I could get them to instruct their agent. A telegram 
was therefore despatched asking them to order a payment 
of 500 rubles. This perhaps was one of the incidents 
which made those around me uneasy as to the safety of my 
person, for telegrams are not secrets of the service, on 
Sakhalin, but soon become public property. Mr. X. was 
walking in Alexandrovsk one day when he was stopped 
by two or three people with the remark — 

" Have you heard the news ? " 

"No. What is it?" 

" Why, a telegram for 100 rubles has come for you." 

The story of my telegram, and the reply, illustrates not 
only the difficulties, but the unimportance of mere posts 
and telegrams in Siberia. This is the more remarkable 
when we remember the efforts of the Government, made 
from the earliest years of Siberian conquest to establish 
posting and postal communication at cheap rates. Political 
and military considerations had doubtless paved the way, 
and the possibilities of quick transmission were marvellous. 
It is said, that in the eighteenth century messengers on 
horseback circulated between the Courts of the White Tsar 
and the Son of Heaven, a distance of over five thousand 
miles, in twenty-eight days. A story is told of one who 
accomplished the distance in the marvellously short time of 



SCENES AND PERSONS IN ALEXANDROVSK 329 

twenty-one days. It was the occasion of a very urgent 
communication from Peking. The messenger, riding day 
and night, speeding on without a moment's delay for sleep, 
dozing at whiles when smooth stretches of the way allowed 
it, arrived at St. Petersburg at the end of three weeks, 
absolutely exhausted. Tumbling off his horse, he was 
hurried, travel-stained as he was, into the presence of his 
august master. His despatches safely and personally 
delivered he was ushered into an ante-room, where he fell 
into a deep sleep. Meanwhile the perusal of the despatches 
had raised some question in the Tsar's mind, and he sent 
for the messenger to interrogate him ; but the attendants, 
finding the man so dead asleep that all their efforts to 
rouse him were unsuccessful, had at last to explain the 
situation to his Majesty. He, without a moment's hesita- 
tion, said, " I will awaken him." Entering the ante-chamber, 
he planted himself in front of the sleeper, and in a loud 
voice called out, " Loshadi gotovi / " (The horses are 
ready ! ) Immediately the man leaped to his feet, to the 
astonishment of the court attendants. 

To render my position more awkward, the cable from 
the mainland (De Castries Bay) to the island (Alexan- 
drovsk), which was the only link with the outer world during 
the greater part of the winter, had been broken in the 
previous June. Some said it was the work of a Japanese 
vessel, but this was probably mere rumour ; for I was 
shown pieces of it, by the engineer responsible for its 
repair, and he stated that it was wearing out in several 
places. This constant fear of Japan was reflected in the 
military preparations — including the importation of 
artillery — that had been recently made, and have con- 
tinued to be made since my departure. Twice during my 
stay telegrams were received stating that war had been 
declared between Russia and Japan. 

In its present undeveloped condition the island presents 
no great commercial attraction. Japan draws supplies 



330 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

of salted fish from Sakhalin as well as from the Amur, 
and only in case of hostilities with Russia would these be 
endangered. Coal is certainly mined, though not in large 
quantities, and the supply is generally thought to be 
limited. The fur trade is no longer of serious account, 
and there remain only the petroleum springs, whose true 
value has not yet transpired. Having regard to its present 
population of criminals and ex-convicts, the island cannot 
be said to exercise any great allurement. From a military 
point of view it commands the entrance to the Amur, and 
could be easily taken ; but as there is no port on Sakhalin 
to give shelter to vessels, possession of the island would 
be of little use excepting for massing troops, say, at 
Pogobi, for transport in boats in calm weather across the 
five miles of straits to the mainland. The Amur liman, 
or estuary, as we have seen, is very difficult of navigation, 
and the shallow depth and narrow channels would be even 
more efficient protection than the present batteries and 
mines. In winter the frost offers a sufficient hindrance 
to military operations. 

The rumour connecting Japan with the rupture of the 
cable had no other foundation than the imagination of 
the look-out man at the light on Jonquiere Point, who 
reported that he had seen a Japanese vessel passing north 
up the Straits of Tartary just before the disconnexion. 

Under the circumstances, this cable was of considerable 
importance to the island administration. With no regular 
communication owing to the want of a haven, and the 
absolute absence of it during winter, save for two months 
when dog-sledges had to be relied upon, it was a serious 
matter in case of external complications as well as internal 
and administrative crises. All telegrams from St. Peters- 
burg, messages from the Governor-general at Khabarovsk, 
and official or commercial instructions from Vladivostok, 
had to suffer the delay of waiting for vessels to call at 
De Castries for them, and Neptune's pleasure to allow the 



SCENES AND PERSONS IN ALEXANDROVSK 331 

said vessels to approach near enough to land them at 
Alexandrovsk. 

There is an official leaflet called Sakhalin Telegrams, 
published at Alexandrovsk for the benefit of the officials. 
It contains news and telegrams from St. Petersburg, and, 
taking up a copy one day, I noticed that a news telegram 
had taken eight days from St. Petersburg to De Castries 
(over 6000 miles), and thirteen days from De Castries to 
Alexandrovsk (sixty knots). Notwithstanding the import- 
ance of the re-establishment of telegraphic communication 
with the mainland, especially in view of the approaching 
winter, the officials failed to unite the cable, rejecting the 
offer of a properly equipped vessel from Shanghai, and 
"muddling about" and not u through" with an ancient 
gunboat, one of those handed over by America at the 
time of the purchase of Alaska. Month after month 
passed by ; winter came, and nothing was effected. Then 
came a hiatus of communication ; Sakhalin was completely 
cut off from the rest of the world until the freezing-up of 
the strait allowed the despatch of dog-sledges, which it 
was now determined to send every five days instead of 
monthly or fortnightly as heretofore. Six months later, 
in the summer of last year, the old cable was abandoned 
and a new one laid over the funnel of the straits from 
Cape Pogobi to Cape Muraviev, and a land-wire connecting 
this with Alexandrovsk and Nikolaevsk. 

Telegraph rates are very low in the Russian Empire ; 
and, as in India, there are three rates according to speed, 
so in Siberia there are two. It was little likely, under the 
conditions then existing, that I could command express 
transmission ; but I paid the urgent rate — triple the ordi- 
nary — and prepaid a reply. The day after my message 
was handed in at the office, a vessel was sent over with 
it to De Castries, thence, in due course, it was wired to 
Vladivostok. From that time I counted the days' and 
watched and waited with expectation for vessels coming 



332 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

from the mainland. At first, I hoped for a reply in three 
or four days ; but no steamer came. A calm day ensued, 
and a little tug ventured across, and, returning with no 
news, I naturally comforted myself with the reflexion that 
there had not been time for an answer. Then the mail 
steamer returning to Vladivostok arrived, and successfully 
delivered its despatches and cargo, and I hastened to the 
post-office, but there was nothing for me. A storm then 
broke upon us from the west, and the steamers, including 
the gunboat, fled over to De Castries. Ten days had 
already elapsed, and no reply had come. My cash had 
disappeared, and my hopes of returning before winter set 
in and blocked my exit, were getting lower. From day to 
day I nursed expectations of the repair of the cable, and 
the receipt of an immediate reply by that means ; but 
this was not to be. On the sixteenth day a mail steamer 
on its outward journey stood off the coast, and, besieging 
the post-office later in the morning, I was again disap- 
pointed. The Chief informed us, with no trace of regret 
in his voice, that Sakhalin was now absolutely "cut off 
from the civilized world, and afforded an excellent oppor- 
tunity to explorers." In explanation, he said that a 
written notice had come from De Castries to the effect 
that the telegraph-station there had been closed owing 
to the breaking of the wire on the mainland, which could 
not be repaired until the following May or June (it was 
accomplished, owing to the continued open weather, in a 
few days). It appears that a storm or flood — a not un- 
common occurrence — had brought down the wire, and an 
engineer, with an escort of soldiers, having set out to 
locate the damage and repair it, had been overtaken by 
a snowstorm, and, unprepared for this sudden attack of 
winter, had been obliged to retrace his steps. It was bad 
news for us ; but not unforgetful of the courtesies due, we 
congratulated the telegraph Chief on being able to close 
his office and enjoy a holiday. 



SCENES AND PERSONS IN ALEXANDROVSK 333 

Some days later, when the line on the mainland had 
been repaired, my hopes were raised again by receiving 
a notice to the effect that a telegram awaited us at the 
office. We set out for the bureau, a mile and a half 
distant ; but, arriving there, the clerk declared, on looking 
into the matter, that he could find no telegram, and added 
with indifference that it was a mistake, the notice referred 
to a telegram that had been delivered six weeks earlier. 
Such little discrepancies in the telegraph administration 
were of no moment. 

Two days after our return from the interior, we had 
found, lying on the counter of the office, a telegram which 
we had sent from Derbensk, only thirty-five miles distant, 
three days previously. It was awaiting the convenience 
of the messenger, when he should have leisure to deliver 
it. To our amusement, on another occasion, we noticed 
a telegram for the Chief of the telegraph-office himself 
lying on the counter, which had not been delivered to 
him, though he resided on the premises, and had, since 
its arrival, gone up to Derbensk. 

At last, after nineteen days of waiting, a reply came 
to hand, and when I ultimately reached Vladivostok, I 
learned that nine days had been occupied in the trans- 
mission of the telegram and reply, and for ten days the 
original message had lain undelivered on the counter of 
the head post-office in Vladivostok — this the authorities 
admitted to my bankers ! 

Long ere this it was quite evident that I must place 
my hopes on the Manchurian Railway, and trust for 
permission to get through. 

Meanwhile I had not given up the idea of visiting 
the Ainus, and gaining all the information and some 
photographs from officials who had been stationed among 
them, I began to make plans during my forced inactivity 
to visit them. By taking a vessel to Korsakovsk, I could 
from there reach the south-east coast, and even venture 



334 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

as far as the Bay of Patience, with good fortune. Com- 
munications being open rather later between Korsakovsk 
and Vladivostok or Japan, my departure might be delayed 
sufficiently to allow of this. To do this I proposed to 
take my interpreter, who was of great assistance to me, 
The Governor was again interviewed for his permission, 
but this time he proved unwilling, and raised a technical 
excuse, which was ridiculed even by his subordinates. A 
festive gathering was to be held at the Governor's house 
the next day, and I therefore approached four of the most 
influential people, the procureur^ the Chief of the district, 
the inspector of agriculture, and a doctor, who were all 
favourable to my plans. They all promised to bring 
their influence to bear on the Governor ; but he was one 
of those weak men who have no definite conviction in 
important affairs, but who occasionally are most obdurate 
in a petty matter, lest they should be thought feeble. 
This way being barred, I proposed, to avoid his technical 
objection, to reach the Ainus by an overland journey via 
Derbensk, Rikovsk, and the river Poronai, but I had, 
unfortunately, chosen one of the worst times of the 
year. There were no available means of transport. The 
Poronai was freezing, but not frozen, and no reindeer 
could pass the swampy tracks until the coming January ; 
but worse than this were the torrential streams on the 
south-east coast. I should have to wait days for them 
to subside, and many soldiers had lost their lives in 
attempting to cross them ; this we were informed by 
Mr. von Friken, who was one of the few officials who 
had ever visited the northerly portion of the Bay of 
Patience. The plan had therefore reluctantly to be 
given up. 

During the time of waiting and watching, of the 
making and discarding of plans, I had an opportunity 
no other English traveller had yet had, of observing 
from day to day the life of this unique penal settlement, 



SCENES AND PERSONS IN ALEXANDROVSK 335 

in which more than half the convicts sentenced to hard 
labour on the island are located. 

In picturing Alexandrovsk, the reader must not think 
of it as a town with busy shops and factories. The 
chief feature, around which the whole place centres, is the 
prison. If there are three or four merchants' stores, and 
an iron foundry, these are for the prisoners ; if there are 
well-to-do-looking wooden houses, the residences of the 
officials, they exist because of the prisoners, and last, if 
there is a museum containing a small ethnological and 
natural history collection, that is a sign of the presence 
of political exiles. The Siberian traveller cannot be 
long ignorant of the debt science owes to these banished 
ones. On the mainland at Minusinsk and at Chita every 
one knows how much has been due to Mr. Kuznetsov, 
and what worthy memorials he has raised in these two 
excellent collections. To one of this class, who, thanks 
to the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences is now 
no longer exiled from Europe, is practically due the 
museum at Alexandrovsk; a story in connexion with 
its early founding reflects the crass ignorance displayed 
by some of the officials under whom these exiles are 
placed. 

On a journey along the west coast this " political " 
had made an interesting discovery of stone implements 
of the palaeolithic period, and on his return he ex- 
hibited them to the Governor of the island, and to 
the official who afterwards became the director of the 
museum. 

" What did you say they were ? " rejoined the officials. 

"Stone implements used by one of the early races 
in the island, for hewing and cutting." 

" Nonsense. Whoever heard of such a thing as stone 
knives ? They are sports, mere freaks of nature." 

I have no doubt they had a good laugh over the 
" madness " of the exile ; but, needless to say, the 



336 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

specimens are treasured to-day, as well-accredited ob- 
sidian and diorite " celts," adding one more valuable 
link to the history of the habitation of the island. 

In addition to the buildings mentioned, there is the 
church in the main street, and overlooking the market- 
place, or bazar, where an ill-assorted collection of huts 
is huddled together, are the Muhammadan mosque and the 
little Lutheran church. Beyond the bridge the road to the 
jetty is bordered by long store-houses, guarded by patrols, 
and close to the pristan, facing the sea, are quarantine and 
bonded sheds, and the lazaret, where the maimed and the 
halt, who can still work, do a little to earn their rations. 
Outside of these, the chief buildings, is the great body 
of small cottages or huts where the ex-convicts, and in 
some cases married convicts, live. 

In the early part of the morning, at midday, and 
again at evening, the town is astir with gangs of convicts 
going to and from their work. All are dressed in dirty 
cotton clothing and leather shoes, and those that give 
trouble are manacled. Some are engaged in pushing 
trolleys, laden with great sacks of American flour, from 
the jetty, others are going out to the coal-mines. At one 
of the latter, the tunnel of which you can see as your 
troika climbs the hill on the way to Due, there is a 
gang of some twenty, who are stationed there with one 
overseer only. They live and sleep there, or rather they 
are meant to sleep there ; for it is said that in the night 
some of them escape, and rob, and return with their 
booty. They make it all right with their guard, for he 
alone, is powerless to prevent it, even if he wanted to. 
Before the present Governor came, this sort of thing was 
commonly done from the prison itself — that is, the 
reformatory portion (razryad ispravlyayushtchikhsya). 
Good-conduct prisoners in this section are still allowed 
to go out with an overseer at their head to do sundry 
work, such as painting, etc., and some of these slip away 



SCENES AND PERSONS IN ALEXANDROVSK 337 

if occasion serves, and return at evening to bribe the 
overseer; but in the old days the gates were open, and 
those who were left behind would fee the sentry, spend 
the day outside, returning before nightfall with what they 
had appropriated. Of course a search was then organized 
to discover the thief or thieves, and even the Governor's 
house was not free from the visits of the soldiers, while 
the real offenders were secure in their " appartements 
garnis " in the prison ! The gangs from the " testing " 
prison (razryad ispituemikh) are always attended by 
armed soldiers, as seen in the illustration ; where they 
are engaged in making a new road leading up to the 
prison, at a spot a few yards below the office of the 
"muddled'* merchant with whom I spent my first night 
on the island. 

There is another class of prisoners besides the soldier- 
gang and the overseer-gang, the so-called " free-commands," 
or ticket-of-leave men, many of whom — men and women 
— may be seen going to the prison to get their quota of 
work every morning. On my way to the post I often 
passed groups of these, the women in short skirts and 
great top felt boots, long frieze khalati (overcoats), with 
the diamond-shaped tell-tale patch of yellow cloth let in 
the back. These were convicts who had become the 
" wives " of " exile-settlers ; " the others, retained by the 
officials nominally for cleaning the prison, were kept in 
the building, where they could be seen through the bars 
of the window to the right of the main entrance to the 
prison offices. 

The law provides that any criminal with a sentence of 
not less than two years and eight months ; any woman, 
not exceeding forty years of age, with a sentence of two 
years or over; and any political exile, at the discretion 
of the Government, may be deported to Sakhalin. The 
ukaz of 1900, in reference to exiles, has generally been 
thought to have put an immediate stop to their deportation ; 

z 



338 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

but exiles with a sentence of hard labour are not con- 
templated in the proclamation, therefore it is that criminal 
and political exiles continue to arrive on Sakhalin. The 
ukaz may be considered rather to register the desire of 
the penal authorities ; to indicate the line they wish to 
take, while reserving to themselves the right of dealing 
with special cases in their own way, and realizing their 
scheme in their own time. 

Criminals on their arrival are classified according 
to their sentence. Those with a sentence of twelve 
years and upwards are put into the worst gaol, the 
"testing" prison. These are mostly murderers, and, if 
they have proved themselves recalcitrant, their chains are 
not struck off after the journey, but they are confined 
to that portion of it called the kandalnaya turma (chained 
prison). 

The " reformatory " prison contains those with a term 

of four to twelve years, while those with less than four 
years are treated, after a short sojourn, as " free-commands/' 
This latter division includes brodyagi from Russia, who 
are sentenced to one and a half years, and the same class 
from Siberia, who get four years' hard labour. 

Promotion is from the " testing " to the " reformatory " 
gaol, and from there to the " free-command " division, the 
length of time spent in each depending upon the behaviour 
of the prisoner. Under the most favourable conditions a 
man may pass only four years in the "testing" prison, 
whereas another may be confined for eight, or even more. 
As a whole, one may say, that a third of the term is spent 
in each section. 

Strictly speaking, "free-command," according to Russian 
terminology, includes all in the " reformatory " gaol, as well 
as those outside, but I have adopted this distinction as 
clearer. 

The arrival of the free-born wife of a convict will 
gain even a murderer release from prison, and he may 



SCENES AND PERSONS IN ALEX AND ROVSK 339 

forthwith live as a "free-command ;" but, of course, having 
his full term of hard labour to fulfil. On the part of 
the female criminal a similar alleviation comes from 
marriage — or, rather, her choice by an exile. This will 
free her from the prison walls, and she may live, as we 
have seen, with her " man " on condition that her hard 
labour duty is done. 

On the other hand, many incur additional sentences 
by escape, theft, and deeds of violence. A prisoner who 
escapes and is recaptured, not only receives a flogging 
with the filet, but may get an addition of anything 
from a quarter to the whole of his original sentence. 
In the year 1900 the prisoners on Sakhalin sentenced 
to hard labour for life numbered 510, of whom 70 were 
women ; but there were those who, Irish as it may seem, 
had more than a life sentence. These were already well 
advanced in life, and had yet to undergo a term of be- 
tween 40 and 50 years. There were 13 such, while 51, 
of whom one was a woman, had sentences between 30 and 
40 years, and 240 had between 20 and 30 years to their 
credit. 

The expiration of a sentence does not bring with it 
the long-hoped-for farewell to Sakhalin, for the ex-convict 
regains his rights only by degrees. For six years more 
he must remain on the island as an "exile-settler;" and 
then, if he is in a position — which so few are — to get away, 
he may go as a " peasant " to the mainland of Siberia for 
another six years. Then only is he at liberty to return to 
Russia. 

The " testing " prison at Alexandrovsk held during my 
stay about 600, many of them in chains, and most in 
idleness. Only 100 of these, I was informed, were sent 
out to do work such as mining, road-making, or log- 
hauling, while the remainder dragged on a miserable 
otiose existence. The authorities excused this unsatis- 
factory state of things, declaring that these prisoners were 



340 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

such bad characters that they dare not let them out to 
work. It was this wearisome and demoralizing existence 
which caused them to take matters into their own hands 
and escape. 

Two of the most notable characters were chained to 
wheelbarrows night and day. This degrading form of 
punishment, which has been done away with for some 
years on the mainland, only survived on Sakhalin. During 
the years 1894-96 there were five men so chained. They 
were Kosulsky, Paschenko, Schirokolobov, Ogurzov, and 
a Caucasian. 

"The rozgi (birch-rods dipped in salt) had not been 
given there for three years, far less the plet" says Mr. 
J. Y. Simpson in describing the famous model prison, the 
Alexandrovsky Central, near Irkutsk. On Sakhalin both 
were in use. Even women, who by law are immune from 
corporal punishment, were flogged with the former in 
February of 1902 ; and two defenceless female prisoners 
were put in chains because they would not do the will of 
their villainous overseers. Flogging with birch-rods is not 
necessarily a cruel or unfitting punishment for hardened 
criminals. The regrettable thing was that a quiet and 
respectful prisoner might be arbitrarily ordered stripes by 
Patrin, the Chief of the prison, or by officials of his stamp, 
when in a mood or passion. 

The plet is a modified form of the knut. The latter, 
which has long been laid aside, is described as similar to 
a plet, but with an iron hook at the end of the thongs. 
The plet is a whip with a stout thick handle about eighteen 
inches in length, and a six-foot thong branching into three. 
These three thongs used to end in little bags filled with 
lead. Only recently (since I was on the island) one of 
these, such as I have described, was sent from Sakhalin 
to St. Petersburg as a curiosity ; and, I believe, these 
leaded ends are replaced to-day with knots. However, 
my interpreter, who reached the island in 1897, said 



3 
* 






O 




SCENES AND PERSONS IN ALEXANDROVSK 341 

that when he was in the "reformatory" gaol all the 
prisoners paid tribute — soup, food, etc. — once a month to 
the palach, or executioner, on condition that if they were 
ordered the plet he would bring the leaded ends down 
on the kabila (board) on which they were stretched, 
instead of on their bare bodies. In doing this the palach 
leaves himself open to punishment, but only in one case 
did I hear of the penalty being imposed for the omis- 
sion, and then he suffered terribly for it. It was the 
ex-executioner Komeleva, and he was thrashed by his 
enemy, Terslili. So awful was the flogging, that though 
it occurred in 1882, a photograph of the wound was 
taken in 1899 showing it still suppurating seventeen years 
after. 

So terrible a weapon was the leaden-ended//^ that three 
strokes were sufficient to cause death if the executioner 
so pleased. The story is told of a Sakhalin prisoner who, 
sentenced to one hundred strokes — ninety-nine are given — 
promised the palach a bottle of vodka if he would not 
hit him with the leaded ends. Even the thongs skin and 
slice the flesh in a horrible manner, but the victim was a 
hardened veteran, and when he had received ninety-five, 
thinking he had escaped, he called out, " It's no matter, 
you can't hurt me now, you needn't think you'll get 
your vodka." But he had not reckoned with his man, 
for after three more strokes he was dead. It was only 
necessary to draw back the plet, as the stroke was spent, 
for the ends to injure the liver and send a clot of blood to 
the heart. 

Compared with the criminal population the number of 
political exiles on Sakhalin is insignificant. According 
to the census of January 1, 1898, out of a total of seven 
thousand and eighty engaged in hard labour they numbered 
seventy-six. Their fate is bad enough, though not so 
terrible as that of their friends in such a place as Sredni 
Kolimsk, within the Arctic Circle. The greatest hardship 



342 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

that awaits them on Sakhalin is the exile from their home- 
land, and the banishment from anything like educated 
society. In the cities of Tobolsk, Tomsk, and Irkutsk not 
only are the exiles in touch with the civilized world, but 
they are surrounded by educated people. On Sakhalin it 
is different, the few who would make together a little 
society, are scattered, and the so-called elite, the officials, 
prefer drinking and gambling to science and literature. 
The old adage, that " it's an ill wind that blows nobody 
any good," is, however, true in their case. The dearth of 
educated people on the island accentuates the demand for 
their services in school-mastering, doctoring, meteorological, 
and book-keeping work, and thus they are provided with 
congenial occupation. Such men were usually quiet in gaol, 
and obtained the speediest promotion accorded to the well- 
behaved. In the positions assigned them they had the 
right to claim rations as prisoners, but none would risk the 
unpleasant experience of having to apply for them, nor 
indeed could they be expected to eat the salted fish which 
was doled out to the criminals. It therefore depended 
very much upon the official who had appointed them, and 
the salary he chose to give, whether they could scrape 
along or not. 

Just before I left the island the Governor insisted on 
my interpreter leaving me and going back to Due to be 
schoolmaster there at a salary of five rubles (iqj. 6d.) per 
month. Of course this was an impossible sum on which to 
keep body and soul together. He is now no longer, I am 
glad to say, on Sakhalin. 

For his private convenience in the distribution of the 
prisoners' rations, the chief of the Alexandrovsk prison, 
Patrin, doled them out in quantities sufficient for ten men, 
leaving to them the division and distribution. This will 
explain what follows. Returning one afternoon to the 
house of the ex-overseer of the prison, where we were still 
lodging, we found our landlady in trouble. One of the 




GOLINSKY, THE PRESENT "rALACH." OR EXECUTIONER, WITH THE " PLET," 

ALEXANDROVSK. 

[ To face page 34 2 . 



SCENES AND PERSONS IN ALEXANDROVSK 343 

convict-servants, a man from the " reformatory " gaol who 
had been some time with them, was missing, and it was 
reported that he had been arrested. He was a decent, 
honest man-of-all-work, who did all the domestic work, the 
washing-up and the waiting upon us. We immediately 
went to inquire, and finding this was so, communi- 
cated with our landlord, who was on the pristan. Some 
hours afterwards he arrived, bringing the man with 
him ; and we heard the explanation of his sudden dis- 
appearance. He had gone for his usual allowance of food, 
and Patrin, seeing him, had sent him away, telling him 
curtly that he must join a " ten." He went off to find 
nine others, but returned unsuccessful, and the chief in a 
sharp voice called out, "You must go away and find 
them, there are numbers 98 and 99 not belonging to a 
ten." He then went in search of these men, and having 
discovered them, learnt that they did already belong to a 
" ten." This time Patrin was so irate that he ordered the 
soldiers to clap him into a cell. Such was the treatment 
accorded to a well-behaved convict who was simply 
applying for the food to which he was entitled by law. 
The ten arrangement was ultra vires, and had nothing 
to do with the Government regulation. 

I will not burden the reader with the details of the 
prisoners' rations, with the number of zolotniki* and frac- 
tions of a zolotnik of grecha y potatoes, etc., allowed him. 
Suffice it to say that the long list which I have before me 
provides amply for the wants of the convict, the menu 
including black bread, grecha (buckwheat), salted meat, 
and fish, brick-tea and soup. Unfortunately, what has 
been said as to quantity does not apply to quality or 
variety. Salted fish and salted meat prevail, and vege- 
tables are scarce. Moreover, the list is a council of perfec- 
tion. Salted meat is ordered three times a week — on one 
of which it may be fresh — and salt fish for the remainder. 
* A zolotnik = '1% oz. avoirdupois. 106*34 zol. — 1 lb. 



344 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

The frequent fasts in Russia often deprive the convict 
of his claim even to salt meat, and the price of fresh meat 
puts it almost out of question, except when a cow dies, or, 
falling ill, has to be killed. Such an event is a boon and 
a blessing", for it also saves something from the prison 
allowance to the official pocket ! 

Again, the great distance of Sakhalin and the broken 
communication in winter place it at a great disad- 
vantage. Ample stores have to be laid in as a provision 
against possible starvation ; and as a result the salted fish 
is often a year old, evil-smelling and putrid by the time of 
its distribution. But worse than this, it sometimes arrives 
in that state, for ships' officers only corroborated what 
Dr. Lansdell had heard twenty years before, that in taking 
provisions across to the island, the smell of the fish on 
board was insupportable. 

It was unlikely therefore that the political exiles would 
willingly apply for rations of this description, or run the 
risk of treatment such as I have described ; and the Chief 
was quite satisfied with an abstention which was profitable 
to his pocket. 

One of these exiles, whom I met on the island, was a 
cultured lady who had gone through a most terrible ex- 
perience. Her name is well known throughout Siberia, 
and in Russia too ; but I will call her Mrs. A. She had 
belonged to a secret society unknown to her husband, and 
on the violent death of Alexander II., in 1881, it was 
necessary for her to flee the country. Years passed, and, 
altering her appearance, she returned to Russia, trusting 
that matters had quieted down. The police, however, 
arrested her on suspicion, and casting about for some 
means of proving her identity, they hit upon a brilliant 
and most cruel test. They summoned her husband, who 
was unaware of her return, and suddenly caused him to be 
confronted by her. The ruse was as successful as cruel, 
and the recognition instantaneous and spontaneous. From 




political exiles, RIKOVSK. [To face page 344. 



<% 



SCENES AND PERSONS IN ALEXANDROVSK 345 

that time the wife disappeared from the knowledge of the 
world. Immured in the dungeons of the Schllisselberg 
years went by, and absolute silence brooded over her fate. 
This famous fortress, situated on a small island in Lake 
Ladoga, near the issue of the river Neva, is the State prison 
for dangerous political offenders. In those days a prisoner 
within these frowning walls was seldom heard of again, 
and Mr. A., at length believing her to be dead, married 
again. Ten years and more had gone by when he was 
suddenly startled by the news that his first wife was still 
alive, and had been transported to Sakhalin. Matters 
were explained to his second wife, they agreed to part, 
and he immediately set out for Sakhalin, via England and 
America, arriving on the island a few months before myself, 
where I met them both. I spent several evenings with 
them, and it was a marvel to me how any one pent up 
in those terrible dungeons for ten years could have pre- 
served their reason ; but a preternatural quietness was all 
that was singular about her. A brighter time has now 
dawned upon her and her husband, for last year (1902) he 
was allowed to take his wife as far as Vladivostok, where 
they have now settled down. 

On board the Yaroslav, among her load of convicts, 
last year arrived a political exile of note, Mr. Trigoni. He 
had been incarcerated in the Schllisselberg before Mrs. A., 
and she had left him still a prisoner within its walls. In 
fact he had been arrested in 1882, the year of the great trial 
of the members of the People's Will Party, and imprisoned 
in the Alexeievsky Ravelin of the Petropavlovsk (opposite 
the Winter Palace, St. Petersburg), from which he was 
transferred with twenty-one others to the Schllisselberg in 
1884, when the latter was converted into a State prison. 
Of these twenty-two, P. S. Povlianov, in an open letter to 
the Minister of Justice {Times, August 8, 1903), said, 
" Seventeen have perished (in the prison), and only two, 
after serving a twenty years' term, have lived to see exile. 



346 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

The remaining three are under life-long sentences, and so 
continue their confinement in this tomb, without any hope 
of ever breathing a freer air." The two, who after twenty 
years lived to see exile, were Povlianov himself and 
Trigoni. The latter now alone survives, for Povlianov, 
after cleverly escaping, in 1902, from the Yakutsk oblast> 
to Paris, recently committed suicide. Trigoni, after his 
terrible spell in the dungeons, is now a " peasant " on 
Sakhalin. He admitted to a friend of mine on the 
island that the first ten or twelve years of silence and 
loneliness were terrible, but after that, the severest restric- 
tions were relaxed, and though he was never allowed to 
see a relative, he was able to get books and to write a 
letter once or twice a year. He is now about fifty years 
old, but is grey, and looks nearer seventy. As a " peasant " 
he must support himself, but he cannot legally be com- 
pelled to settle where the Chief of the exile department 
may choose. 

It is proposed that he should take charge of the little 
library that was being started in connexion with Sister 
Mayer's work, to which I shall refer later. 

One whom I got to know well on Sakhalin, had been 
incarcerated in the Petropavlovsk, opposite the Winter 
Palace in St. Petersburg, and he thus described his 
experiences to me. 

" I was driven," said he, " in a closed carriage, with 
curtains drawn, to the frowning fortress, and then through 
the gloomy portals past the barracks. There I was blind- 
folded and led through a maze of passages, past the patrols 
into the corridor, and from this into the gloomy, damp 
cell, or rather vault, for this more aptly describes the 
dungeon-like, semicircular roofed chamber." (He then 
drew me plans and described the interior much as Prince 
Kropotkin and others have painted it.) " Nervous and 
frightened I gazed around like a hunted hare. The door 
had hardly shut upon the soldier when I heard a gentle 



SCENES AND PERSONS IN ALEXANDROVSK 347 

tapping. What could it be ? I was well-nigh out of my 
senses, and could hardly take in my situation. So great 
was my prostration that I could not by effort remember 
the alphabet. There was yet another thing that got upon 
my nerves. In the door was an oval piece of glass with 
an outside leather flap. Through this the warder could 
silently and without warning observe any motion of mine. 
Keeping my eye fearfully upon this oval disc, and noticing 
that it had a mercurial, mirror-like look, I concluded that 
there was no one watching me, and stepped upon a stool 
in the corner whence I thought I heard sounds. Just 
within my reach was a grating over the hole communicating 
with the stove outside." 

It appears that the authorities, who do everything they 
possibly can to ensure secrecy, a death-like silence and 
absolute isolation, had made a tactical mistake in econo- 
mizing. One stove heated two cells, and the pipes com- 
municating with them joined and became one before 
reaching the stove. It was therefore possible for sounds 
to pass through from one room to the adjoining. 

rt Listening, and keeping my eye upon the oval glass, 
I caught some indistinct sounds. At first I could not 
understand, but by degrees I made out the question, 
* Who are you ? ' I replied, * I am A L .' 

" Back came the reply, ' Speak louder ; I cannot hear 
you.' 

" I answered, ' I will, but I am afraid of the soldier 
hearing me. I am A L . Who are you ? ' 

" ' I am Taisia Yakimova ; ' and so the conversation 
continued." 

It transpired that his neighbour was but a girl of 
nineteen. She was accused of having been found with 
explosives in her possession at the coronation of the 
present Tsar, and was condemned, in 1895, to five years' 
detention in the Petropavlovsk. This, of course, was 
not all communicated at one time. After the first few 



348 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

sentences the terrible eye was upon the new prisoner. The 
latter quickly dropped down. The door opened ; the 
soldier entered and said, " Your honour will understand 
it is forbidden to talk." After that, many knocks were 
heard ; many conversations were held. Soon after a baby 
was born in the next cell. Her fianct had been arrested 
also for implication in the same plot, but had pleaded 
for pardon, promised loyalty, and been set free. She 
had disdained to do this, and had tried to forget him. 
At the end of five years, spent in the dungeon, she was 
transported for life to the far-distant oblast of Yakutsk, 
and as I write is dragging out a miserable existence in the 
Arctic settlement of Sredni Kolimsk. The new prisoner 
was kept in the dungeon-cell for one year and a half, and 
then despatched on the Yaroslav to Sakhalin. 

Twice a year this vessel reaches Sakhalin — in May 
and October — bringing on each occasion about 800 male 
convicts. An accident had delayed them that autumn, 
and I found the steamer at Vladivostok departing for the 
island not long before the cessation of navigation in the 
Straits of Tartary. Owing to the new arrangements, con- 
sequent on the ukaz of the Tsar coming into force on 
January 1 (o.S.) following, increased numbers of prisoners 
had been arriving from the Siberian mainland. Over 1000 
disembarked at the pristan during my stay on the island, 
and how they were to be accommodated, with the 800 
to follow in the Yaroslav, was a puzzle. At the last 
moment a small wing was being added to the main prison, 
which could hardly be ready, and certainly not dry, by the 
arrival of the last batch. Overcrowding there must have 
been somewhere. 

Going down to the jetty one day I found a crowd of 
prisoners just landed from the mail steamer. It was a 
cold day, with a north wind blowing, and the convicts 
were being searched, since some article had been missed 
by the captain on board. It was a strange picture, the 



SCENES AND PERSONS IN ALEXANDROVSK 349 

rows of unkempt, grey-clad figures, with their fetters tied 
up to their girdles, and bundles at their feet. Kazaks 
stood on guard, looking quite as travel-stained in their 
shapeless astrakhan caps, the woolly curls of which, be- 
draggled, hung down, and, mingling with their hair, gave 
them a wild-beast appearance. 

Some of the soldiers were good-naturedly chatting 
with the prisoners, and I more than suspected that, if there 
was anything in the bundles which should not be there, 
it was temporarily transferred to the soldiers' pockets. 
Outside the gate of the pristan, through which a patrol 
allowed me to pass, were grouped a number of poor exiles 
waiting a chance of smuggling vodka under the gate. 

On October 19 another batch of about 150 convicts 
arrived from the mainland ; and on the night of October 
20-21, about 700 more. I have spoken of the laxity of 
the officials, and dwelt upon the unimportance of the post 
and telegraph services ; but did any other country ever 
have such things happen as the following ? 

On the arrival of the October 19th batch of convicts, 
it was found that the ship's manifest, the captain's report, 
and the check-over, or roll-call on the pristan, all differed 
as to the number of prisoners. The totals were respectively 
147, 149, and 137. Here was an excellent opportunity of 
escape, a half a dozen more or less did not matter. If 
numbers were of no importance, neither was time. This 
particular vessel seemed bewitched. For a mail steamer 
her behaviour was certainly extraordinary. The captain 
discovered after he had left Alexandrovsk for Korsakovsk 
that by mistake two sailors had been left behind on shore 
at De Castries. He therefore put back for the mainland, 
and the next day we learnt that he would have to return 
again to Alexandrovsk, since the assistant engineer and 
two men had been left on shore there. 

The irregularities thus discovered in checking over the 
prisoners might have favoured their escape had they known 



350 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

it, but it was quite otherwise with the books of the prison 
bureau. The Chief of the Chancellerie (of the Governor), 
for a reason which I shrewdly suspect, in the spring of 
last year boldly declared, that the books and official papers 
were kept so badly in the office, that a number of prisoners 
were retained in chains, and on the island, much longer 
than the terms they were sentenced for, even to five and 
six years ! 

The system of allowing convicts, "free commands," to 
live outside the prison, though still under certain restraint, 
has its difficulties ; and the necessity for economy insisted 
upon in St. Petersburg, resulting in an insufficiency of 
warders, adds considerably to these, and yet, if officials 
would only spend less time in drinking and gambling, 
much might be done towards rendering life and property 
secure on the island. 

During my stay on Sakhalin, three people whom I met, 
and the father of a fourth, were murdered. The first was 
the youth whose death I have already recorded, the next 
occurred on October i (O.S.). I had moved to a little 
house near the pristan y where a petty customs officer lived, 
and October i being a feast day or holiday, I was returning 
from the church when I met my new landlady walking 
down the road in company with a friend of her husband's 
for protection. The man passed on to the town, and I 
took his place, as she wished to return to the jetty. As 
we went along, two poor creatures from the lazaret, which 
was opposite to my new lodging, came down the road. 
One of them was rolling about as if he found the road too 
narrow, and my landlady pointing to him, the pregnant 
remark, " Eto prazdnik" (" It is a holiday "). 

Much has been said and written on the question whether 
the Russian nation is to be credited with more or less 
drunkenness than Western nations. Whether or not the 
defenders of Russia are correct in maintaining that the 
peasant is not frequently a victim of alcohol, and has not 



SCENES AND PERSONS IN ALEXANDROVSK 351 

the wherewithal to pay for it on ordinary working days, 
there is no doubt that he excels himself and publishes his 
failing abroad on holidays. 

The man reeled towards us, and in his drunken, good- 
natured way, calling out, " Zdravstvuete ! Kak vi pazhi- 
vaete ? " (" Good morning. How do you do ? "). At half- 
past six that evening he lay a corpse in the market-place. 
His companion had murdered him for the sake of the seven 
or eight rubles upon him. This was in daylight, in a busy 
spot where the soldiers and police ought to have been — 
possibly even were ; but the very atmosphere of the place 
seems criminal, and the officials, looking upon the convicts 
as brutes, are tempted to let them fight out their own 
quarrels, and if they happen to end fatally it is only one 
" rascal " the less. 

The third murder occurred three days later. A man 
had called at my lodging and spent a little time in the 
kitchen, and was accompanied home by our two convict 
servants. His home lay just off the market-place, and 
shortly after they left him, he sat down near the lamp, 
when suddenly the outer shutters were forced open and 
he was shot through the window. This appeared to be 
the latest fashion in murdering, for it was the third by 
this method within a few weeks. Another occurred in a 
house just opposite ours near the customs sheds. The 
fourth case was that of the father of a scholar of my 
companion's at Due, to whom I had given some pence. 
It was two days later that we saw soldiers bringing 
along his parent's corpse, which had been washed up 
on the beach close to us. The man had been returning 
from Nikolaevsk with fifty or sixty rubles in his pocket, 
the proceeds of his little commercial transactions, when 
his comrades, in the middle of the strait, set upon him, 
killed him, and threw his body overboard. The Straits 
of Tartary could tell many a story of this kind. 

One afternoon I set off with my interpreter for a short 



352 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

walk, and we wandered up to the cemetery on a hill to the 
north of the town, a spot just visible in the illustration 
opposite page 108. It was a windy, bleak hillside, and 
below lay the sands and the pirate vessel with its memories 
of the recent murder. A sombre scene stretched before 
us — a patch on the hill burnt out of the wind-swept forest, 
wild and untended, and dotted with a scant remnant of 
gaunt, straggling trees. Wooden crosses, black, brown, and 
green, clustering thickly, told the same sad tale. 

Here lies 



Murdered 18 — . 

What mattered it by whom ? For those that had not been 
murdered by convicts had, in the " good old times," met 
their death " accidentally " at the hands of the soldiers or 
officials. Cross after cross repeated the tale of murder, 
but here was a whole family group who had fallen to 
the assassin's weapon at the same time. They were three 
brothers, a wife, and a daughter, and had lived at the log- 
house yonder, which is now going to ruin ; it was the 
cemetery guard-house in their time, three years ago. And 
surely if any one was free from attack one would think that 
it was these keepers of the dead. But even the ghosts of 
the departed were no protection to them ; for one day they 
were missed by the baker who, setting out on the morrow 
to call, found all five murdered. 

Down in the market-place, or bazar, that scene of 
terrible deeds, there are frequent quarrels, in which 
knives, daggers, or revolvers are drawn, and the police 
and soldiers are either absent or quite indifferent. I 
give here a typical one that occurred during Easter of 
last year (1902). It was told me by an eye-witness. 
The only warning the passer-by had of anything wrong 
was the sudden gathering of a crowd of Caucasian exiles. 
At length, between the legs of the crowd, two of them 
could be seen on the ground struggling, the one uppermost 



SCENES AND PERSONS IN ALEXANDROVSK 353 

digging his knife into the other. It was a case of 
jealousy which had lasted for two years, and the victim 
of the attempt had long ago asked for the protection of 
the police ; but he was met with the ironical reply that 
the law could do nothing for him until after something 
had happened. Close by stood one of the police, a wit- 
ness of the scuffle, who, instead of interfering, drew his 
revolver and fired into the air ; and when asked why, 
replied, " I did it to call my companions together." Two 
or three hundred yards away the Chief and an overseer 
of the police were walking together, but took no notice 
of the disturbance. My informant hurried off to acquaint 
an official, who in his turn informed the Military Governor. 
He promptly ordered the Chief of the district to go and 
see what was the matter. The latter assured him that he 
had no doubt that it was only a quarrel, a matter of daily 
occurrence ; but nevertheless went, saw the murder going 
on, came back and said, " Oh, your Excellency, it is just 
as I thought, merely a quarrel." The victim was taken 
to the hospital, where he died of his wounds two days 
afterwards ; and his assailant was set upon by the mob and 
received five wounds in the head and twenty others, dying 
in the hospital on the same day as the other. 

No further comment is needed on the laxity and 
indifference of officials. It was said when I was on 
Sakhalin that the authorities at Alexandrovsk expressed 
surprise if ten days elapsed without an escape from 
prison. In fact they looked upon the island as a prison in 
itself, and so it was ; but fellow-prisoners on that same 
island were made to suffer through this slackness. 

Speaking one day to the Chief of the prison at Due 
on this subject, I asked him, " Will the patrols at the 
Alexandrovsk prison be condemned to a penal regiment 
on account of the recent escapes of prisoners ? " 

"Yes," he said, "if they are proved to have been 
culpable." 

2 A 



354 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

"But," I replied, "you yourself have admitted that 
there are not enough sentries and warders on the island, 
and how in that case can they be held responsible ? " 

The only answer was a shrug of his shoulders. 

Under his regime the Due prison was beginning to 
outlive its terrible reputation. He showed consideration 
to his prisoners, and among other things, allowed those in 
the mines to earn a little pocket-money by working on 
holidays. 

In the olden days there were many escapes from Due ; 
prisoners clubbed together and fled northward to Pogobi, 
and others smuggled themselves on board coaling-vessels. 
The chief mate of an ocean-going steamer flying the 
Japanese flag told me how, when engaged in the coasting 
trade north of Japan, his vessel had once coaled at Due, 
and an exile had begged the captain to secrete him and 
carry him away, offering at the same time a considerable 
reward. The captain agreed, and the exile was put into a 
cask. In order to avoid suspicion, for the Russian officials 
were used to all manner of deceit, the cask was a quarter 
filled with water, and when the daily search was made, the 
cook would busy himself in drawing water from this cask. 

To-day Due contrasts well with Alexandrovsk, whence, 
owing to the presence of Patrin and the dreadful ennui in 
the kandalnaya tit,rma (chained prison), escapes are many 
and frequent. 



CHAPTER XVIII 
STORIES OF PRISONERS 

A show of arms necessary — A murderer with nineteen victims — I am 
warned — Black crosses by the wayside — " What do you think of 
Patrin ? " — A fearful struggle — A saintly old prisoner — Eight 
years' hard labour for stealing a loaf — The " game ■ of the super- 
intendent and the " exile-settlers." 

IF a purse is almost indispensable in Regent Street, a 
revolver is absolutely so on Sakhalin. My interpreter, 
who had had three years' experience of the island, 
always insisted on my carrying it, whether I was going 
into the town or only for a couple of yards outside the 
door of our abode. There was only one occasion on which 
I left it behind, and that was when I went to call upon 
the Governor. It was morning, and I was in my dress- 
suit ; and English tailors are not in the habit of supplying 
revolver pockets to dress-suits, hence its absence on this 
occasion. My companion, however, carried his, and we 
had but a short way to go. Unbleached cotton, a frieze 
khalat, and fetters form a more suitable costume for 
Sakhalin than a dress-suit, I admit ; but etiquette demands 
this for a civilian presenting himself to the Governor, 
although a frock-coat suffices for an interview with his 
Imperial Majesty the Tsar. 

It seemed odd at first to take a revolver instead of a 
Prayer-book to church, and a trifle out of place to make 
an afternoon call with such an article. At night it was 

355 



356 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

desirable to carry it in your hand, for a couple of seconds' 
delay might be fatal. In the streets of Alexandrovsk, after 
dark, we held them in our pockets ; but on the road to the 
jetty, through a bit of scrubby forest, it was well to have 
them free, and to keep a sharp look-out up and down the 
road. 

In the day-time, I was advised, not to let anybody 
overtake me without observing him over my shoulder, and 
at night never to play the good Samaritan, for one of the 
ruses of the would-be murderer was to lie in the road, 
feigning to have been wounded. 

Once warned of these many dodges, and well armed, 
one's chances were pretty fair. Safety seemed to lie 
in a good show of arms and watchfulness. Probably it 
sounds dangerous in the ears of a reader whose experience 
is confined to Western Europe, but it is not difficult to 
acclimatize one's self to any atmosphere ; and I may assure 
him that he would have found it so after a few days on 
Sakhalin. I shall think, not that I have exaggerated, but 
that I have presented a picture out of proportion, if, warned 
and fully armed against danger as I was, the reader 
imagines that I was in any greater peril than thousands 
who returned from the South African war without a 
scratch. 

A Polish woman on Sakhalin once wished me God- 
speed in the words, " May God give you to live long, and 
have long nails to scratch your way through life," but 
personally, it may be purely from a Western habit, I prefer 
to keep my nails short ; and another Russian proverb 
current on Sakhalin was more to my liking, viz. " It is 
better to have one friend than one hundred rubles." 
Certainly I was indebted to many for friendly warnings. 
One morning I passed on the road a man who had eight 
murders to his credit, and half an hour later he was pointed 
out hovering around our hut ; but, warned against letting 
him approach me to ask for a light, I took up my 



STORIES OF PRISONERS 357 

revolver and steel stick and returned to the town without 
hindrance. 

It may seem inexplicable how a man could have 
committed so many murders and be still at liberty. A 
murderer of this stamp has generally committed more than 
one before he is captured in the first instance, and, once 
outside the prison walls in Siberia and on Sakhalin, the taiga 
shelters him from the penalty of his further deeds. Time 
passes by, and, if captured, he is either unidentified, or it 
is impossible to get evidence to convict him ; and, besides, 
it only involves a further addition to his sentence, and the 
island itself is a prison. Unless the matter is likely to 
reach the ears of the Governor-general, it does not matter 
much if one " villain " murders another, and escapes 
until the noise blows over. It is only " one of this brutal 
crowd the less ; " but if it be an official who is killed, 
prompt measures are at once taken. At Vladivostok I was 
shown by an anthropologist, Dr. K., a photograph of a 
Sakhalin assassin who had committed no less than nineteen 
murders. 

Another warning reached me one morning when I was 
least expecting it. My interpreter came from the kitchen, 
soon after our return from the interior, looking much 
perturbed, and I asked him what was the matter. He said 
he was afraid there was some plot on ; that I, as a stranger, 
was of course believed to be rich ; and, further, that he and 
I had been mistaken for the two prospectors, one of whom 
was reported to have given a convict a beating for refusing 
to do as he was told, and reprisals were being meditated. 
This much he had pieced together from what he had heard 
from the convict servant who had recently been rescued 
from the claws of Patrin. The man could not be got to 
say more, for he had already told enough to incriminate 
himself with his companions, and bring down the punish- 
ment of his artel upon him. But he had gone the length of 
threatening my interpreter, that if he allowed me to go 



358 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

out alone in the streets in daylight, and I were shot, he 
would report him to the Governor. The servant evinced 
his sincerity by insisting upon accompanying me himself 
that night to Mr. A/s, and wished to come for me on my 
return, but my host promised to drive me home. In the 
darkness — it was not safe to carry lights — we nearly drove 
over a watchman, who suddenly sprang his rattle and leapt 
out of the way. At the next turn, in swinging round the 
corner by the barracks, one of a group of convicts fell upon 
Mr. A. I was sitting upon his right, my hand on my 
revolver at the time, but my companion was equal to the 
occasion. He is a big, burly man, and with a loud " Stupay " 
(" Get away ") he hurled the man off, and the proletka (little 
victoria) swept on. From that time my interpreter and I 
kept a rather sharper look-out, but nothing more than the 
usual alarms occurred. 

Outside of the town it was advisable to carry a rifle, in 
addition to a revolver. We travelled thus accoutred even 
to Due, which is distant only about four miles as the crow 
flies, and eight by the road. It is an old and well-used 
road, but continues to-day to add to its melancholy records. 
Due itself, as the site of the oldest of the coal mines, was 
for long the most important settlement on the island. 

Our troika ascended the hills by a steep zigzag, which 
yielded picturesque views of the open valley left behind 
of Alexandrovsk and the two silvery streaks of the Little 
and the Great Alexandrovka rivers. Further inland was 
the village of Korsakovsk, set in the midst of a chess- 
board of gardens which supply Alexandrovsk and even 
Nikolaevsk, on the mainland, with vegetables. Down at 
the foot of the hill which we were climbing was a tunnel, 
looking no bigger than a mouse-hole. This was the coal 
mine where a score of convicts were at work in the intervals 
of their marauding expeditions. The great hill slopes, in 
process of being cleared, were brown with the tree-stumps left 
as it were by some giant scythe. Our troika breasted hills 




A NIGHT WATCHMAN, ALEXANDROVSK. 

[To face page 358. 



STORIES OF PRISONERS 359 

which no ordinary English hackney would have taken ; 
until, nearing the top, the gradient diminished, and the 
road plunged into the taiga. Here we came upon a black 
cross by the wayside, one of three erected to the 
memory of persons murdered on the road during the 
previous year (1900). The first was to a merchant who 
had fallen under the hands of Barratasvili and his band. 
The next was also to a merchant who had gone for a walk 
from Alexandrovsk, and had sat down on a seat which 
stands in front of the cross, when, without warning, 
brodyagi emerged from the taiga, and before he could 
turn, knocked him down and killed him. Another cross 
was passed just before reaching Due, but its story is 
unknown to me. 

Passing the mouth of one of the convict coal mines, and 
following the trolley route down to the jetty, we came out 
upon the beach, and dashing along, now upon dry sand 
and then through the rising tide, the remainder of our ride 
may be described as in a troika by land and sea. 

Due, with its one little street in a narrow valley opening 
to the sea, is a pleasant contrast to Alexandrovsk. It 
wears the aspect of village life. As we sped up the street 
one knew that at that house lived the doctor, there the 
priest ; here was the school, there the baker's. There was 
a feeling of family life in the air, and the houses, each 
different in style, with their whitewashed fronts and bright 
green shutters, were a relief to the sombre brownness and 
greyness of Alexandrovsk. Our troika drew up at Mr. 
X.'s cottage, a tiny box-like log-hut, consisting of one room 
and a tiny ante-room for kitchen. It was his own, for he 
had borrowed money to buy it against the time when his 
sentence should expire ; otherwise, as an " exile settler," he 
would have been liable to be sent anywhere at the will of 
the Chief of the exile department. The ownership of a 
house gives the right to dwell in the settlement in which it 
is situated. He had two convict servants, who were on 



360 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

half duty, as they were not well ; and they gave their 
services to Mr. X. in spare time for a small consideration. 

My companion showed me with pride round his little 
den, chief among the treasures of which were photographs 
of his father and of his wife and children, whom he had not 
seen for so many years. We had scarcely looked round 
when a uniformed messenger stood at the door, with the 
request of the Chief of the prison to know who the stranger 
was. 

As I have already mentioned, the nachalnik of the Due 
prison bore a good reputation, and we found ourselves 
welcomed to dinner by him and his good wife. The talk 
began in a safe direction, the hostess and myself comparing 
notes on the Koreans, she having met many in the course 
of the years she had lived at Vladivostok. When, however, 
a bowl of soup, a sample of that intended for the prisoners, 
was brought in to be tasted by the Chief, conversation 
drifted round to matters nearer home. We talked of the last 
escape of prisoners from Alexandrovsk, he appealing for 
excuse to the dearth of warders, whose numbers were not 
by any means up to their tabulated strength, since many 
allocated to Sakhalin were really engaged in the bureaux, 
e.g. the Chancellerie, etc. The staff of warders is under- 
manned, and St. Petersburg objects to increased expenditure. 
The difficulties of the Russian penal administration have 
largely been a question of expense, and yet if peculation 
were not rife, and officials were less bent on gambling and 
drinking, and more on obtaining even decent conditions 
for the convicts in their charge, most of the evil could be 
swept away. 

Our conversation had not continued long before, rather 
suddenly and pregnantly he put the question, " What do 
you think of Patrin ? Is he as well known in England as 
in America ? " The reputation of Patrin, the brutal Chief 
of the Alexandrovsk prison, is by no means confined to 
Siberia, for such is his fame in San Francisco that he 



STORIES OF PRISONERS 361 

has been represented on the stage there as the prison 
demon. 

The story is told on Sakhalin how a convict who 
escaped from the island to America, was arrested there 
and lay in prison accused of murder, where an enterprising 
interviewer, thinking to learn some interesting and sen- 
sational details from the accused, visited him. He obtained 
disappointingly little from him, owing to the man's small 
stock of English ; but to one of the questions the journalist 
put," Would you prefer to go back to your patriaf " came 
the unexpected reply, " No, I would rather be hanged than 
go back to Patrin ! " 

So well known to his brother officials was Patrin's 
character, that only because they were all in the same 
boat can one account for his retaining his position. It is 
even more surprising that he had not been assassinated. 
Barratasvili had meant to accomplish it, but did not live 
to fulfil his intentions. The Chief used to pass us, driving 
furiously about Alexandrovsk, carrying a Winchester in 
addition to his police pistol ; and in the prison he commonly 
went about with a revolver in one hand, for, big man as he 
was, he took all precautions when striking a prisoner. 

Let me answer the nachalnik's question, "What do 
you think of Patrin ? " by two or three stories concerning 
him. The reader will hope, as I do, that the day may be 
very near when the inmates of the Alexandrovsk prison 
will be freed from his tyranny. 

Not long before I landed on the island the story of his 
criminal assault on a child of ten had even found its way 
into the Vladivostok papers, but the affair was hushed up 
by means of the powerful ruble. One whose authority on 
Sakhalin stands unquestioned has said, "The officials 
commit the very crimes for which the prisoners in their 
charge are convicted," and if any confirmation of this were 
needed we have it in the following Reuter's telegram, 
dated April 16, 1902. "The Irkutsk court proceeds to 



362 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

Saghalien to try almost the entire convict staff for forgery, 
embezzlement, fraud, and offences against public morality." 

I will not dwell upon Patrin's behaviour with the 
women prisoners. Many were the stories current among 
officials of his cruelty to prisoners, of his arbitrary con- 
finement of them in the dark cells, of the plet ordered out 
of spite, and of his fatal assaults on prisoners when he was 
overseer. 

I give here two stories of his behaviour to officials, 
and it may be judged from these, what his conduct towards 
convicts has been and is. The first incident happened 
while I was at Alexandrovsk, and the other previously, 
during my companion's incarceration in the prison. 

The overseer of the post-house where we obtained our 
troika found one afternoon two of his izvostchiki drunk 
and fighting. He ran down into the courtyard and sepa- 
rated them, but not before he had had to strike one of 
them. The latter immediately went off to Patrin, and 
complained that the overseer was drunk, and had made 
a disturbance, etc. When the overseer, who had gone to 
fetch his wife, returned, he found the Chief of the prison 
there, who, without warning, struck him a blow in the 
face. Blood flowed from his mouth, and in his half- 
stunned condition he appeared to be making for the river 
close by, but soon lost consciousness. When he came to, 
he went to the Chief of the district, informed him, and 
claimed damages, because for one officer to strike another, 
like a convict, was no small offence. The district Chief, 
however, deprecated any scandal, and advised him to let 
it blow over. 

Under such a man were the political exiles in prison ; 
and to him those living in Alexandrovsk would have had 
to apply for their rations, had they not foregone their claim, 
and striven, by their own exertions, to keep body and 
soul together. While my interpreter was yet in prison, 
at the beginning of his term on Sakhalin, he had to 




A DESPERATE CHARACTER. 



{To face page id^. 



STORIES OF PRISONERS 363 

undergo several unpleasant interviews with Patrin. His 
story not only illustrates the arbitrary and uncontrolled 
behaviour of the prison-master towards officials ; but also 
the class of obstinate criminal occasionally to be dealt 
with, rendered more so in this case by the arbitrary con- 
duct of the official before whom he had to appear. 

Mr. X. said : " I had gone at the stated time when the 
Chief held audience to beg permission to be let out of the 
criminals' prison and live in lodgings. I could see Patrin 
through the doorway, sitting at his table, and inquiring of 
the overseers in the ante-room who were friendly if he 
were in a good mood, they assured me that it was a favour- 
able moment. ' Don't wait,' they said, * until the convicts 
come ; he is in a beautiful temper now ! ' As fate would 
have it, however, whilst I was standing behind a soldier, 
waiting my opportunity of a pause in the Chief's writing, 
an overseer entered, and, unfortunately, fell out with his 
superior. I heard Patrin say, ' Hold your tongue ! ' 

"The overseer replied, 'I will not hold my tongue. 
You must not speak to me like that. I am not a convict, 
but an officer, like yourself.' 

"The Chief, now roused, cried out, ' Hold your tongue ! ' 
The other, flushing up, drew his revolver, and flinging it 
down excitedly on the table, exclaimed in an angry voice, 
* I resign at once. I will not serve under such a ! ' 

" There seemed little hope for me now," continued my 
interpreter, " but I still lurked behind the soldier, letting 
several convicts come and go, in the hope that the Chief 
would calm down. But once more fate was against me, 
for there came along a young, slim convict, one difficult to 
deal with, and possessed of an irascible temper. 

" He entered, stepping boldly forward, and said, ' You 
may say what you like, but I shall do what I like.' 

" The Chief rose, and asked, ' What did you say ? ' 

"The other replied, as brazen-faced as ever, 'I can't 
work, and I tell you I won't ! ' 



364 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

" At this, Patrin, who was standing scarcely a pace off, 
struck him on the jaw with his right fist, and followed it 
up by a blow with the left. I shrank back horrified," said 
Mr. X., "and then ensued an extraordinary scene. The 
young fellow, who was slight of build and not tall, seized 
the Chief by his coat, and dragged him to the steps. For 
the moment Patrin seemed powerless, but recovering him- 
self, called to the overseers who were sitting motionless on 
the bench. They roused up as if awakened from sleep, and 
stepping forward, flung themselves upon the prisoner. For 
a time I could see nothing but a forest of arms, at one 
moment flung in the air, and the next coming down like 
flails on the body of the convict, and still the Chief was in 
the grasp of the prisoner. It was a terrible miUe, and the 
whole group was unsuspectingly gravitating towards the 
flight of stairs. It was impossible to stop the moving 
mass, which drew nearer and nearer until it ultimately fell 
headlong down the steps. Patrin was on the top, and 
came off practically unhurt, but the prisoner, who had 
already been pounded and mauled, had several ribs broken." 
All through his term the man had been very recalcitrant, 
and during the spring of 1901 he seized the revolver of 
one of the soldiers on duty and shot him. He made no 
attempt to escape, but standing calmly there, said, " I did 
not want to shoot him ; it was Patrin I wanted." And 
then, pointing the weapon once more, shot himself in the 
forehead. 

Among the hundreds of undoubted villains on the 
island there are naturally some of an extremely refractory 
type, but at the same time there are several of the prisoners 
who would be reckoned innocent in England. One of this 
latter class was a very holy old man, of wide reading, who 
had developed views after the type of Count Tolstoy's. 
His home was in South Russia, and there he began to 
teach the doctrine of non-resistance. The authorities im- 
mediately pounced upon, arrested him for creating a riot, 




THE DARK CELLS (OR " CACHOTS NOIRS "), ALEXANDROVSK PRISON. 

\To face page 365. 



STORIES OF PRISONERS 365 

and sentenced him to eight years' hard labour. Thus he 
found himself in prison at Alexandrovsk with the most 
abandoned criminals. A saintly, dignified old man, a little 
eccentric perhaps, he always refused to shake hands, even 
with a barin, and with a courteous gesture of excuse would 
hold up his right hand in blessing. A fellow-prisoner of 
his said that he had never known him do a wrong or 
unkind act ; and yet he had been condemned by Patrin 
more than once to chains and the dark cell. The accom- 
panying picture is an illustration of one of the dark cells 
in the Alexandrovsk prison. It was described to me by 
one who had often to pass it, as absolutely without any 
accommodation, plank-bed or parasha, filthy and mal- 
odorous beyond conception. 

It is my impression that there is less of this sentencing 
of religionists to hard labour to-day than there used to be. 
I say " my impression," for I cannot appeal to statistics 
of sufficient value. On Sakhalin there were (January 1, 
1898) sixty-seven of this class (of whom three were women) 
undergoing hard labour. The cases that I came across 
were all of some standing. I will quote one more, and 
this time it is that of a Mussulman. He was a rich man, of 
liberal thought and much learning, and hailed from Kazan. 
Having studied Christian doctrine and been duly impressed 
by it, he attempted to teach a kind of eclectic Islamism and 
Christianity. Tt resulted in his being arrested for founding 
a new sect, and sent for fifteen years' hard labour to 
Sakhalin. His enemies accused him of fanaticism, yet it 
could not be denied that, through all, he continued to 
urge his brethren to live peaceably and honourably ; and 
for this he was sentenced with criminals of the worst 
description. 

Here follow two cases of men condemned for criminal 
acts, who can scarcely be said to have merited their punish- 
ment. My informant had had access to the official precis 
of the cases from which he culled the following. The first 



366 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

was that of a poor man in South Russia caught in the act 
of stealing a loaf. The theft was admitted, but because he 
had a knife in his pocket (what peasant does not carry a 
knife ?) his crime was, technically, robbery under arms, 
and his sentence eight years' hard labour on Sakhalin; 
which really meant life-long punishment, for, as I have said 
before, few ever get away from the island. It mattered not 
that the man had been driven by hunger, perhaps by 
starving children, to the petty theft, he must expiate it with 
a life's exile. Surely such a punishment does not " fit the 
crime." The accused is reckoned guilty until he can prove 
himself innocent ; and to inculpate, not to do justice, is the 
logical sequence of such a system. Circumstantial evidence 
is sufficient to convict, and the benefit of the doubt is not 
a Russian conception ; but the miscarriage of criminal 
justice is as nothing to the great blot on the system, the 
" administrative process " by which political offenders are 
imprisoned or banished without trial, a system which is 
obviously adopted because of the want of sufficient evidence 
to convict. 

The second criminal case was one in which the pro- 
bability of innocence would have cleared the accused in 
any English court of law. The subjects of it were two 
Kazaks. The flrtfcis began with the story of the marriage of 
a nephew of these two brothers. The young couple were 
handsome and very well off, and everybody wondered why, 
with the best prospects and everything they could wish for, 
they were unhappy. One day the nephew came to his 
uncles and complained that his life was embittered, for his 
wife had become the mistress of her step-father. Taxed 
with it she alleged that she had yielded simply to save 
her mother from being ill-treated by the step-father; Soon 
after this the latter was found murdered. The two Kazak 
uncles were arrested, tried, and are now dragging out a 
miserable existence on Sakhalin. On what evidence they 
were convicted the prfcis states. Near by where the body 



STORIES OF PRISONERS 367 

of the victim was found, were cart-wheel tracks, and these 
were claimed to coincide with those made by the carts 
owned by the uncles. Doubtless this was so, for similar 
country carts were owned by hundreds around. Further, a 
piece of strap alleged to belong to the harness of the two 
brothers was found near by. It probably did, but the 
whole strap had been missing for some months, taken by 
the nephew on one of his visits, and, not being of importance, 
had not been inquired for. 

Everything pointed to the nephew as the author of the 
crime for which these two men were undergoing life-long 
banishment ; but the above evidence was sufficient to 
condemn the two uncles for murder. 

I do not intend the reader to take this case as typical 
of Sakhalin convicts, for I do not believe it to be so. Not 
the miscarriage of justice, but the faulty administration of 
the penal system, is the glaring defect on the island ; yet 
the glimpse which these cases, and one more which I shall 
quote, give of the lives of those banished to Sakhalin was 
one which the inquirer came across on the island, and 
goes to make up the sum of the social cosmos. 

The irony of the third case was that the prisoner's term 
had expired on his arrival on Sakhalin, and when I met 
him he had been three years on the island. When I 
learned his crime, I thanked my stars that I was not a 
Russian subject, for I might have been guilty, and perhaps 
already had been guilty, unwittingly, of the same. He 
had attempted to pass a forged three-ruble note. Now, 
there are not a few forged notes about in Russia, and it is 
easy to be deceived by them. The question should have 
been, after all, one of intention. Mr. X., who knew him 
very well, believed he was incapable of it. But even sup- 
posing him to have been guilty, again the punishment could 
scarcely be said to " fit the crime." My interpreter and I 
found the man, a Caucasian, in a little wooden house with 
clean whitewashed walls and muslin-curtained windows, 



368 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

and the usual prints of the Tsar and Tsaritsa on the walls. 
We were engaged in negotiations with him to join forces, 
in pursuance of our plans to reach the Ainus overland. He 
had been sent out from Odessa on the Yaroslav, upon 
which my interpreter was likewise a passenger, in chains ; 
and having been stricken down with fever during the sea 
voyage, Mr. X. had attended him under the doctor's 
instructions, and had been the means of saving his life. 
He was therefore devoted to my companion, and while 
we were talking a curious opportunity of showing his 
gratitude presented itself. I have already referred to the 
freemasonry which exists among the convicts. They have 
their code of honour, and when Mr. Y., the ex-convict 
merchant, had some six hundred rubles' worth of trinkets 
stolen from a show-case in his stores, several of the 
convicts personally expressed their regret that such a 
thing should have happened to "one of themselves." 
Hundreds of secrets were kept, at least from the officials, 
though they were often told to us, or, rather, to my com- 
panion. My interpreter happened to mention that when 
most of his effects were stolen from him during the time 
he was schoolmaster at the village of Arkovo, one thing 
he had especially regretted the loss of, and that was a ring 
given him by his wife. With a quick vehemence the 
Caucasian exclaimed, "Why did you not tell me before? 
I know the man who has it. I would have got it for you, 
had I known. I will get it ! You have only to say the 
word, and I'll get the devil for you ! " He had done all 
but a couple of months of his term before leaving Russia, 
which had expired on the journey out, and yet now, unless 
he could accumulate money, he would never be able to get 
back to Russia ; and even if successful, not before twelve 
years had elapsed. He must go through his stage as an 
" exile settler " for six years on Sakhalin, and as " peasant " 
for another six years on the mainland, if he can get there. 
After that the law allows him to return to Europe, but 



STORIES OF PRISONERS 369 

neither to St. Petersburg nor Moscow, if he hails from 
either of those cities. The Chief of the district may give 
permission to a prisoner soon after the termination of 
his sentence to go to the mainland, if he has the promise 
of employment ; but this does not affect the further twelve 
years' absence from Russia. 

The reason, as I have already mentioned, why ninety- 
nine out of every hundred never get away from the island, 
why the law in this respect is inoperative, is because the 
prisoner has no one to influence a merchant or employer 
to offer him a berth, or he has been unable to save 
sufficient to travel to find one, or to buy himself into a 
commune, the latter alone costing him perhaps fifty or 
sixty rubles. Many have too hard a fight to get a living 
at all, not to mention those who succumb under a load 
of debt ; and yet the longing for home is there, deep and 
enduring. Even if a man's time be legally up and he has 
sufficient means, it does not follow that he will straightway 
get off, and the following will explain in some cases why. 

On my way to Mr. A.'s I had to pass by the school- 
house, which is on the right-hand side, higher up the road 
on to which the prison faces. The school is a mixed one, 
and I cannot better describe one of the many games 
played, which throws light on the treatment of "exile- 
settlers " after their six years' further residence on 
Sakhalin has expired, than in the words of the news- 
paper Vladivostok, excerpted and translated by Mr. Zhook 
in " Free Russia." 

Here is the game of "superintendent of the settle- 
ments " (Chief of the exile department). 

" One of the boys, copying the manner of the superin- 
tendent, sits down, stretching himself upon a chair ; another 
comes up with an oral petition, saying — 

"'Yer honour, show us God's grace, put us on the 
peasants' list ; it's six years that I'm an exile (posselenets), 
and have not been noticed for anything ! ' 

2 B 



370 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

" ' I don't want to. Get away with you ! ' 

" * Yer honour, I don't owe the Crown anything.' 

" * Warder, kick him out ! ' 

" ' Will you allow me to apply to the governor (Chief) 
of the district ? ' 

" ' What ! To the governor ? Warder, take him under 
arrest ! I will show you peasantry. Wait a bit ! ' he shouts. 
' Let him be put to hard labour for fourteen days ! ' 

"The applicant pretends to be crying, and says, 'Yer 
honour, don't ruin me ; forgive me, I'll go back home ! ' 

" Just then there resounds a slap on the face, and the 
word ' Take him ! ' is uttered ; the culprit is taken away." 

Some, in the hopelessness of despair, have drowned 
their sorrows in drink. One such I met during the last 
week of my stay. I had been to call on our landlady's 
old parents to order, I believe, the little vehicle they kept 
for hire, and there I found a lodger, a man still in the 
prime of life, who was now in the eyes of the law a 
"peasant," but had been a judge in Siberia. There was 
no doubt of his being an educated man, and I give his 
story, which I had no means of verifying, as it was told me 
by one who had heard it from his lips. 

It appears that, during his occupation of the bench, 
he and the wife of the president of his court became 
enamoured of one another, and the lady intrigued to 
get her husband removed to another part of Siberia, 
whither she might, with some show of reason, refuse to 
follow him. In order to compass her object, she destroyed 
several papers referring to cases in hand, amongst which, 
unknown to her, were some of the highest importance to 
the judge, her lover. It was he, and not her husband, who 
had to flee, and after many adventures, and in spite of all 
the wonderful espionage of the Russian police, he suc- 
ceeded in reaching the German frontier. But at the last 
moment, when trying to pass in company with some 
Jews, he was arrested for being without a passport. He 



STORIES OF PRISONERS 371 

disclaimed all knowledge of kindred and home, and was 
sentenced as a brodyaga to one and a half years' hard 
labour on Sakhalin. He had long since completed his 
time, and was now trying to drown his sorrows in drink. 
He accosted me with a " How d'ye do ? " and wished 
me "good-bye" in English, though with a very marked 
accent. 

Two or three days later I passed another exile who had 
also been within an ace of escaping from his country. He 
was driving his little telyega, bringing in farm produce to 
Alexandrovsk. It was no less a person than Count 
Marovsk, who had been transported to Siberia in the first 
instance for a political crime. He had at one time not 
only succeeded in escaping, but in getting as far as St. 
Petersburg. Unfortunately, in the streets of that city he 
met an officer of the gendarmerie, who instantly recognizing 
him, greeted him with an astonished " You here ! Why, 
how did you come all this distance ? " 

With all the concentrated hatred of the old noblesse for 
the nouveaux riches, the count quick as lightning drew his 
revolver, and saying, " For that I came," shot him. 

He was immediately arrested, and sentenced to fifteen 
years on Sakhalin. He is an old man now. His time is 
done, but he remains an " exile-settler," with his own little 
house and plot of land. 



CHAPTER XIX 
STORIES OF CRIMES IN ALEXANDROVSK 

Chinese prisoners — An armed escort — Church service — A night for 
deeds of darkness — Tunnelling and firing houses — An employer 
of assassins — Sakhalin ; the Utopia of no taxes — The power of 
the ruble. 

ABOUT a fortnight after the return from the interior, 
the rooms which my interpreter and I were occu- 
pying having been already promised to others, we 
left our good host, the ex-overseer of the prison, and went 
to share the little house belonging to the petty customs 
officer, close to the pristan. A scrubby wood separated the 
jetty from the town, and there were only one or two other 
houses near by, besides the lazaret opposite, and the long 
customs and quarantine sheds. 

These latter had been the home of Chinese prisoners 
during the previous winter. At the outbreak of the Boxer 
insurrection the Russians had seized, near Port Arthur, 
Hung Tung Shu, a military instructor who had studied in 
England, and all his artillery school, consisting of 138 
Chinese youths. These were all deported to Sakhalin, and 
the authorities tried to make them work — some said actually 
set them to labour in the mines, but this I cannot verify. 
Hung Tung Shu was sufficiently au courant with inter- 
national law to make effective representations, and the 
prisoners of war were eventually supplied with food, and a 
bullock to draw their loads. As might have been expected, 
the latter was soon killed or stolen by brodyagL I met one 

372 









STORIES OF CRIMES IN ALEXANDROVSK 373 

of the prisoners at Alexandrovsk, but the rest had left 
earlier in the year. 

Our new host was engaged by day, and sometimes at 
night, in duty on the jetty. For nineteen years he had 
been in Government service, and for a great part of that 
time responsible for the tracking of convicts. A strong, 
sturdy, and rather fiery individual — a Little Russian, and 
they are by repute quick tempered — he looked as if he 
could give a good account of himself; and yet, accustomed 
as he was for years to facing these outlaws of the taiga, 
and protected by the fear of summary execution, which 
was the fate of a murderer of officials, he had his times 
when he was unnerved. One evening he left us to go down 
the road to the town. He had scarcely gone a quarter 
of a mile, not so far as the straggling wood, when he 
discovered that he had forgotten his revolver. He confessed 
to us afterwards — " I came all over hot, and in a fright 
turned back ; then, thinking of all the years I had hunted 
brodyagi, I was ashamed to return, and sat down on a 
stone." Fortunately, his wife observing that he had left 
his revolver behind, sent one of the two convict servants 
whom she could trust, who found his master sitting by the 
wayside. 

The insecurity of life and property on Sakhalin presses 
very hardly upon the thrifty and respectable peasant, 
and upon the families of the officials. They can never 
feel sure of their own or their children's lives. The wife 
of the Little Russian with whom we were then lodging 
had by long residence become emboldened sometimes to 
delay her return home until after dark, but always with a 
man-servant or friend as companion. Very occasionally, 
taking her revolver, she would venture on to the jetty in 
the evening to fetch her husband home ; but this was a 
stone's throw off, and armed sentries guarded the approach 
to the pristan. 

On the evening before we moved to their abode she 



374 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

had narrowly escaped being held up. She was being driven 
to Alexandrovsk, with a woman friend, to visit her parents. 
It was already dusk, and before they had got a quarter of 
a mile from the house the horse shied and sprang aside, 
and a head and shoulders popped out of the ditch by the 
roadside. The izvostchik called out, "Who's there?" and 
the outlaw, who, in the darkness, had thought the women 
were alone, made off into the wood. 

On another occasion a thrifty, industrious ex-convict 
came to me at my request to fetch some sealskins to be 
dressed. It was the evening of October 16, and the 
previous night there had been a storm, which I shall have 
occasion to mention, for a gale on Sakhalin means the 
opportunity for dark deeds. Everybody seemed to be in a 
state of alarm after the doings of the previous night, and 
this man was no exception, for though big and tall, and 
with but a mile to go, he refused, even at 6 p.m., to take 
the sealskins with him, lest he should be robbed. 

Our new dwelling was a little square wooden house, 
divided into four small rooms, opening the one into the 
other. Our host was comfortably off, but even to the 
eyes of an English cottager the place would have looked 
bare. Of course there were no carpets, not even a mat ; 
two or three tables and chairs and a form, with two cup- 
boards containing the wardrobes and other effects of the 
family, and a great wooden chest, made up the inventory. 
The contents of the last-named article aroused my curiosity, 
and, on inquiry, I learned that it contained a hundred- 
weight of lump-sugar. Perhaps the most interesting room 
of all was the kitchen, for our hostess kept open house. In 
fact, on one day, she told us, she had made tea seventeen 
times. It was a handy house of call for people arriving or 
departing by sea. 

The island of Sakhalin, both Russian and native, is 
still in the old days of hospitality before such " modern " 
notions as inns or hotels had taken shape, and our new 



STORIES OF CRIMES IN ALEXANDROVSK 375 

abode was found to be a handy place of call. The welcome 
by no means spent itself at the end of a glass of tea, and this 
for a very good reason, since the uncertainty of the arrival 
of vessels sometimes stranded the would-be passengers at 
our domicile. For people who regarded their time as 
important, and there were one or two such on the island, 
there was a most aggravating fickleness about the behaviour 
of vessels. 

One day, hearing that Mr. Y., who was taking messages 
for me, was leaving that day for Vladivostok, I strolled 
down to the end of the jetty to wish him "good speed." 
There I found most of the official world assembled, including 
the Chief of the district, the head pope, and several others 
whose acquaintance I had made, busily engaged in the 
usual accompaniment of farewells — drinking. Several of 
the party were leaving, the Rikovsk doctor for Vladivostok, 
somebody else for Japan, and others for the mainland, 
before the cessation of navigation. The steamer had been 
descried on the horizon, and was steadily nearing the shore. 
Good-byes were said, and, stepping outside, I shook hands 
with Mr. Y., and wished him " bon voyage" when he turned 
suddenly, and, pointing to the ship, said, " Mais, je ne vais 
pas partir, voyez vous, le vaisseau s'est tourne et retourne 
a De Castries ! " It was clear she dared not stand in closer, 
the westerly breeze being too strong, in the absence of a 
safe anchorage, and there remained nothing but to return 
to the mainland for refuge. So there would be another 
farewell later, with the usual accompaniment, and per- 
haps, even a second and a third. Such glorious uncer- 
tainty was responsible at times for filling our kitchen to 
overflowing. 

Sometimes it was a whole family — father, mother, and 
children — who made their bed on the floor, while the convict 
servants stretched themselves along the bench. At another 
time it was a young woman with three or four children, 
who had to be housed for two or three days, waiting for 



376 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

their vessel. But of all the curious company which that 
kitchen held during my stay, a party which dropped in for 
refreshment one afternoon was the strangest. It was the 
day before we had set out for Due. An ex-convict 
merchant, having 3,000 rubles upon him, and fearing attack, 
had cast about how to bring them safely from Due to 
Alexandrovsk. I have already described the road, from 
which the reader will see that he was wise to take precau- 
tions. He had got together as escort three Caucasian con- 
victs. It was these that I now saw gathered in the kitchen, 
and a more sunken-eyed, deep-browed, cut-throat lot, armed 
with rakish-looking daggers at their belts, I don't wish to 
meet. I thought I would rather have taken my chance with 
the brodyagi. The merchant certainly had cause to con- 
gratulate himself on his escape, for his son had been passing 
along the same road that very week, when two men armed 
with guns leaped out upon him from the forest. For- 
tunately, before they had seriously injured him, he was 
recognized, and, with the delightful naiveti and sang-froid 
of the Sakhalin brodyagi, they exclaimed, " It wasn't you 
we wanted, but your father ! " 

Immunity rendered the convicts bold. One morning I 
passed two drunken men rolling up the street, within ear- 
shot of an approaching official, talking loudly of a certain 
robbery for which their mates had been imprisoned, and 
boldly declaring that they would get them out. From their 
talk I felt pretty sure that they had committed the offence, 
and when I found them in Mr. Y.'s store making unusual 
purchases of stuffs my suspicions were further confirmed. 

We were still standing in the store waiting for a reply 
to an inquiry about vessels, when two elderly convicts 
came in. They were talking, and did not pause in their 
conversation. One of them wanted to sell his hut, and 
was offering it to the other, who, however, did not seem to 
be much tempted, so, as a further inducement, the first 
said, "Look here! I'll sell you the hut and the old 



STORIES OF CRIMES IN ALEXANDROVSK 377 

woman too ! " At first I thought it a bit of Sakhalin 
humour, but it was grim reality. 

Notwithstanding the vagaries of steamers, lodgers, how- 
ever, were occasional, and in the ordinary course our two 
convict servants slept in the kitchen alone. One of them 
we trusted, but the other, having robbed our landlady, had 
to be dismissed, and from that time we were continually 
changing. Some of them were murderers, and our host, 
being an under-official, had not, of course, the first choice 
of these prison-birds. 

The kitchen was entered through a porch from out-of- 
doors, and opened by a door without latch into the room 
in which I slept with my goods and chattels. Another 
door gave access from my room into the next, but this had 
a bolt. However, notwithstanding I and the convicts were 
thus shut off to ourselves, and that they could communicate 
undisturbed with friends outside, it is only fair to say that 
they made no attempt to murder me or possess themselves 
of my effects. For myself, I always slept with my loaded 
six-chamber under my pillow, but perhaps it is as well 
that they did not know I was a heavy sleeper. 

Winter begins, or should do so on Sakhalin, on 
October 1 (n.S. 14th), and the second windows, giving 
double resistance to cold and draught, were duly put in 
and caulked on that date. 

Thenceforward we depended for fresh air on what 
might filter through when the outer door was open. A 
tiny pane, it is true, in one of the windows was opened by 
the application of considerable force and at my special 
request, and left ajar for a few minutes before breakfast. 
The same day marked two other events in the Sakhalin 
Kalendar, the doling out of winter clothing to the 
prisoners, and the anniversary of the appearance of the 
Virgin Mary to the Archbishop of Constantinople, when, 
by holding a veil over the city, she signified her protection 
of it against the heathen. 



378 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

October I is therefore a feast-day, and on arriving in 
the church, an ornate wooden structure, we found a full 
congregation of officials and exiles. All were standing, as 
is usual in Russian churches, many talking and chatting 
about business matters or prison news ; while the service, 
which began at eight and ended only at eleven, was going 
on. Behind the rood screen, and barely visible through its 
network of carving, moved three priests with long flowing 
hair, in gorgeous crimson and golden robes. They were 
intoning while a choir of small boys sang. There was a 
considerable amount of bowing and of changing places, and 
mixed with it all strange noises rising almost to howls 
and falling to grunts. Then very impressively the gates 
of the screen swung open, and the head pope, with whom 
I had travelled down the Amur, came slowly forward, 
holding a large gilt cross, with which he made the sign 
of the cross to the congregation. The communion of wine, 
mixed with water, and bread was next administered to 
children under the age of six, and the congregation stood 
silent while the priests poured the contents of the spoon 
into the mouths of the babes-in-arms, who were screaming 
and kicking. The priest meanwhile was looking furtively, 
and rather irreverently, I thought, out of the corners of 
his eyes in various directions. Then followed a short 
sermon, quite a good address, my interpreter said, and a 
collection. During the service Patrin, who towered head 
and shoulders over most around him, was selling sacred 
candles, for he was one of the churchwardens. 

After the collection another portion of the service was 
read, and then one of the priests, taking an aspergillus y 
which was by no means a " little brush," but resembled a 
whitewashed, began to sprinkle the congregation in turn 
with holy water. The first to go up was the Governor, 
and, solemn as the rite was meant to be, I could not resist 
the sense of the ludicrous when the great brush came down 
with a smack upon his bald head. 



STORIES OF CRIMES IN ALEXANDROVSK 379 

The climate of Sakhalin has its extremes, as we have 
seen in the short sketch given in Chapter VI., but the cold 
is a dry cold. A doctor assured me that there were no 
cases of consumption on the island, except among the 
Kirghiz and South Asian races, who could not stand the 
severity of winter ; and, though there are regions of 
swamps, infectious diseases have not yet got a hold 
sufficient to make these exhalations dangerous. 

Fogs are less prevalent on the island than has been 
generally believed, and, as the meteorological observer 
remarked to me, owing to the presence of a branch of the 
Kuro Siwo from Japan, and a cold stream from the 
Okhotsk Sea, aerial currents are lively, and the fog cannot 
stand still as in England, where a practically equable 
temperature exists on the surrounding seas. 

The weather for the most part during this, the middle 
of October, had been cold and clear, with frosts at night. 
The wind from the north was not unlike our east winds in 
March ; then, with a veering to the south, would come 
a day or two of showers, followed by an October day, 
sunny and bright. No healthy Englishman would have 
thought of wearing an overcoat on such a day, though 
the soldiers huddled their great khalati around them, and 
shubi had already begun to appear in the streets. Away 
to the west, the coast of the mainland, sixty miles distant, 
was clearly visible, and towards sundown, strolling out 
alone on the jetty, I watched the great Sol bathing the 
snow-capped mountains in his rosy light, and waited the 
lead-colouring waves and the creeping shadows all along 
the lone coast as he sank into the deep waters. At such 
times the loneliness and separation of the exile from the 
outer world came over me, and I had a glimpse into the 
bitterness of his banishment, the dying down of long- 
deferred hope into the colourless, dull leaven of despair. 

The summits of the mountains had long been covered 
with snow, but the white mantle crept but slowly down 



380 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

their sides. The old weather-wise said that they had 
never known the snow so long delayed. It should have 
fallen, according to their account, for good about October 
26, not to disappear until the following April. They 
did not know then that King Winter was going to make 
up in intensity for this short respite, for the winter of 
1901-2 was extraordinarily severe throughout Siberia. 

If Sakhalin has its bright and clear days, it also has its 
storms, when men and women turn in their beds and 
pray that no deeds of darkness shall endanger their 
home. I remember more than one such night, but the 
one which seemed to unnerve most was that of October 
15-16. The wind had risen, and all the steamers had 
bolted over to De Castries. Beginning earlier in the east, 
it had worked round to a stiff south-westerly breeze, ending 
at length in a north-westerly gale. The storm was howling 
through the rafters, and the wild waves were dashing in 
fury over the jetty. The great lighters, which were fastened 
and refastened to the inner side of the T-shaped pristan y 
were threatening every moment to break loose, snap their 
bonds, and smash the jetty in their wild efforts to get loose. 
Sea birds, driven in by the storm, were whirling around the 
great rugged promontory ; nobody was about that could be 
in. The sentries at the landward end of the jetty were vainly 
endeavouring to keep themselves warm, wrapping their 
voluminous felt overcoats once and again round them. 
With fingers numbed, they stood their bayonets in the 
sentry-boxes, and stamped up and down. Behind our 
dwelling, fifty yards away, was a roaring fire, in front of a 
nondescript shelter, which it threatened to lick up in the 
fury of the storm. Camped there were all sorts of dis- 
reputable characters, for it was a refuge for the outlawed. 
It was just such another night as that on which the six 
prisoners escaped from the prison at Alexandrovsk. All 
through the night the wind howled and the storm raged, 
and our hostess lay awake until it was light, crying at 



STORIES OF CRIMES IN ALEXANDROVSK 381 

intervals, " I hear them ! I am sure I do ! They are 
tunnelling under the house ! " Such a night, less than a 
hundred years ago, the wreckers on the coast of Cornwall 
found their opportunity. So it is on Sakhalin, only 
it is from the land, and not the sea, that the wreckers 
profit. 

In the town the tunnellers and wreckers of shops were 
at work. Of the many deeds of darkness revealed the next 
morning, to mention only one, a little store at which I had 
dealt, lying within a stone's throw of my first lodging, was 
broken into and stripped. It was situated exactly opposite 
the barracks on one side and the prison on the other; 
and yet, notwithstanding this and the fact that the owner 
and his family were sleeping in the house, some con- 
victs in the middle of the night, and under cover of the 
storm, dug under the house, beginning in the road and 
coming to the floor, cut a hole in it, entered, and cleared 
the place. 

Eight days later a similar, but worse, event took place. 
On the morning of October 24 we roused up about half-past 
five to find a fire in full blaze in the town. Being more 
than a mile distant from the scene, it at first looked as 
though the greater part of the town was alight ; but as we 
were gradually able to locate it, we saw that it proceeded 
from the bazar. Our concern was not allayed by this, since 
it seemed probable that the house of a Sister, who was 
doing excellent work among the exiles, was involved ; but, 
fortunately, as we learned from messengers, it was not so, 
but was confined to the house next door. This was occupied 
by an ex-convict merchant, against whom the incendiaries 
appeared to have had a grudge. They proceeded by their 
usual methods of tunnelling, and this notwithstanding the 
scene of operations was the public market-place. Cutting 
their way through the floor, and emerging in the store, they 
found, to their disappointment, no vodka. In the absence 
of any other spirit, they broke the necks of all the bottles of 



332 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

eau de Cologne, drank the contents, and, seizing all they 
could carry away, set fire to the premises. The owner, to 
whom this was not a first experience, undisturbed by their 
" burgling," but aroused by the smoke, seized his revolver 
and rushed out into the market-place, firing several times 
to attract the attention of the police. No notice had been 
taken by the man on the watch-tower, a common institu- 
tion in wooden-built towns in New Zealand and America, 
as well as Russia, and probably he was asleep ; but the 
shots, or the police, aroused him, and he clanged the 
alarm-bell. 

A fire-pump was sent down to the scene of the outbreak, 
but, as luck would have it, there was no reserve of water, 
although a store in buckets is supposed to be kept at the 
station. It remained only for water-carts, i.e. barrels on 
two wheels, to be found and sent down to the river to be 
filled. Of course these means were hopelessly and 
ludicrously inadequate. 

By this time the Governor had arrived on the scene, and 
it was clear that the whole house was doomed. The old 
merchant, seeing that everything would be burnt, called to 
the spectators that they might help themselves, but the 
Governor would not allow it, and, ordering them to stand 
back, stationed a cordon of soldiers around the fire until all 
was consumed. 

While, as I have said, a freemasonry does exist among 
the convicts, the bond is much loosened in a large settle- 
ment like Alexandrovsk, where the majority are strangers 
to one another ; and this accounts for these attacks on 
one another. The immediate cause is generally revenge 
or spite, and sometimes envy of success or good fortune. 
The chance of obtaining property of any description, even 
to a pair of boots, is a sore temptation to the professional 
criminal. 

Two or three days after the storm a poor woman from 
Korsakovsk village, near Alexandrovsk, called on our host, 



STORIES OF CRIMES IN ALEXANDROVSK 383 

and told her story between bursts of crying. Somebody 
had stolen her all, her horse, which was worth, she said, 
120 rubles, and her cow, which had cost ninety. She had 
probably borrowed money to buy them, which made it all 
the harder. We could not help her, but the officer promised 
to prevent their being sent by sea to Nikolaevsk, which the 
thieves might probably attempt to do. 

Sometimes it is starvation, or the chance escape, that 
drives a convict to extremities. My interpreter told me 
that many had said to him, as he put it, " We cry, but we 
must kill," meaning, " We must murder, though we weep 
for our victim." 

The most horrible case of recent murder was that by a 
man who called upon us one day to condone with him for 
his " bad treatment at the hands of the officials ! " He 
was a merchant, and had had a young and beautiful Tartar 
wife. He grew suspicious, and accused her of flirting 
with others, until one day she disappeared, as it was 
generally supposed, with one of her lovers. Months passed 
by, and the true story began to leak out. It appeared that 
he had hired an assassin, at the current price of twenty-five 
rubles, to murder her as a faithless spouse, who, according 
to the law of Muhammad, merited death. The hired 
assassin completed his ghastly work, but he and his 
employer fell out about the terms. The merchant solved 
the difficulty by hiring another assassin to murder the first ; 
but the second was not so successful, and, his victim 
recovering, tales began to circulate. Then a woman was 
emboldened to come forward, and she told how when she 
had been to get some bread of the merchant, she saw 
him actually making the noose ready to hang his wife, and, 
in a great fright, ran out of the shop, but not before he 
had threatened her life if she breathed a word. Now that 
the half-murdered man had told his version of the story, and 
it had been decided to arrest the merchant on his return 
from Nikolaevsk, she could no longer hold her tongue. 



384 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

After all this had transpired, I passed the merchant 
driving in the street, and even met him in our dwelling. 
I inquired how it came about that he was free. 

" Oh," was the reply, " the court does not come here 
until next July from Vladivostok." 

"But I have seen poor men waiting under arrest, for 
their trial ten months hence, why not he ? " 

" Oh, well, he has a house and is a merchant, and so 
the officials let him loose. He cannot escape, and I expect 
he has made it all right with them." 

When he called upon us the day before I left the 
island, he had been rearrested, and this time made to pay 
a bail of 500 rubles, for which he openly declared that he 
was very hardly treated. 

A night or two previous one of his hired assassins 
knocked at our outer door about 9.30 p.m. The convict 
servant called out, " Kto tam?" ("Who's there?"), and 
recognizing his voice parleyed with him, but refused to 
open. He wanted a candle, he said, but they seemed to 
think it was my 500 rubles that he and his companions in 
league were after, and had chosen the opportunity of our 
host and hostess' absence to acquire. We kept ourselves 
in readiness for any attack through the windows, but we 
had the advantage of being shuttered on the inside, and 
the assassin had gained too little information to encourage 
him in the attempt. 

To those who feel crushed by taxation and regard 
themselves as victims to the demands of a civilized Govern- 
ment, I would recommend Sakhalin as that long-desired 
land — a country free from taxes ! Not even does the rate- 
collector haunt the doorsteps of unwilling ratepayers, 
for there are no rates to pay. It is true if you don't care 
for the well water you may pay a man sixpence a month 
to bring you water from the river ; and if you value the 
services of the watchman in disturbing you with his rattle 
at night and apprising the burglars and thieves of his 



STORIES OF CRIMES IN ALEXANDROVSK 385 

whereabouts, you may give him a like sum. But strictly 
speaking you need pay nothing in rates or taxes for the 
privilege of residence on Sakhalin — nothing save insecurity 
of life and property. 

The island, because of its position and climate, has 
sometimes been compared with Iceland, but in the matter 
of crime a greater contrast could not be found. There 
must be a larger number of crimes committed in proportion 
to the population on Sakhalin than anywhere else, whereas 
on Iceland the exact reverse would be true. It is said 
that in 1000 years two cases, both of thefts, have been 
recorded there. One was committed by a man who, 
having broken his arm, was suddenly deprived of the 
power to work. He was driven to the theft by hunger, 
and this being recognized, he was placed under medical 
care and put in the way of earning his living. The other 
was by a German, who had no such excuse, and was told 
to sell all his property, make good the damage done, and 
then leave the country, or be executed. 

Such stern treatment for theft did not obtain on 
Sakhalin, and if one gilded the official palm he could 
get off even with honour. At the beginning of last year 
(1902) fifty pairs of peasants' shoes were stolen from the 
Government stores at Alexandrovsk, but as the price they 
fetched there was only thirty kopyeks, against one ruble in 
Nikolaevsk, the thief started for the latter place to sell them 
there. On his way, however, he was stopped by a soldier, his 
goods examined, and the Government stamp found inside 
them. He was therefore arrested and brought back to 
Alexandrovsk to be tried. While locked up in the guard- 
house the prisoner, who was a Caucasian, saw a friend and 
compatriot pass the window, and made signs begging him 
to get him free somehow. Thereupon this friend came to 
the police-office and made an arrangement, for a sum of 
ten rubles, to be allowed to change the Government shoes 
in question for others. This was done to the satisfaction 

2 c 



386 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

of all the parties concerned, the overseer of the ispravnik 
unlocking the door and superintending the exchange. 
When the trial came on, the accused said there must have 
been a mistake, the shoes were not Government ones, but 
had been made by the settlers ; would the official examine 
them. The substituted shoes were brought in, and finding 
no Government stamp on them, the official begged the 
man's pardon for his wrongful arrest ? 

One more instance of the power of the ruble. A little 
while after the previous incident, fifteen tins of mutton-fat, 
weighing a pud each, disappeared from the Government 
stores. No trace of them could be found, and their loss 
created some disturbance, as the fat is very scarce and 
rather valuable on Sakhalin. Now in the market-place 
are several ramshackle shelters of no good reputation, into 
which thieves, being hard pressed, dive and vanish by 
underground passages; for some reason or other a raid 
was made on one of these, and in the cellar, amongst other 
things, were found three tins of this mutton-fat. The 
owner of the hut was arrested and brought before the 
overseer of the police. With much whimpering and many 
tears, the accused man begged him to take what he liked 
of his property rather than imprison him. " My time on 
Sakhalin will very soon be up, and if I am convicted again, 
I shall have another term and never be able to get back to 
the mainland." 

" That is an old story," said the official in a stern tone, 
" and won't pay." But, with a sudden change of tone, he 
added, " How much will you give me if I make it all 
right?" 

The prisoner, taking hope, said, " I will give you one of 
the tins and ten rubles." 

" No, not enough," replied the official. 

" Twenty-five rubles," the prisoner offered. 

" All right, I will see to it," said the overseer ; and, 
as if by magic, the tins of mutton-fat were changed to 



oo 

On 




STORIES OF CRIMES IN ALEXANDROVSK ^7 

common swine's fat, and when the trial came on the 
overseer declared that "there had been a mistake. I 
thought that they were mutton-fat, but I suppose that 
I must have had a cold when I examined them the other 
day ! " 



CHAPTER XX 
SAKHALIN TO VLADIVOSTOK 

The Russian priest — The prisoner's hope — Sister de Mayer — Her 
story — Heroic efforts — Her solution of the unemployed problem — ■ 
Sakhalin coal — Farewell to the island — De Castries Bay — I am to 
cross Manchuria as a " book-keeper," 

THE Russian penal system, so far as it deals with 
criminals, compares, on the whole, not unfavourably 
with the regulations for the punishment and incarce- 
ration of delinquents adopted by other European nations. 
The provisions by which a prisoner may be promoted from 
one class to another, and gain his freedom gradually, are 
calculated to give hope and encourage reformation. It is 
the obvious failure of the administration to carry out the 
aim of the law, as revealed in the foregoing pages, that is 
so lamentable. 

The reader may ask, does the Government do anything 
for the prisoner through the priests ? No direct attempt 
at reform by the ministration of chaplains, as in England, 
is contemplated on the island, and the priests are not likely 
to go out of their way, even if their duties allowed it, to 
visit the prisoners in gaol. 

The Russian priest can scarcely be compared with his 
English brother. The reader is familiar with the fact that 
the social position of the French cure and the German 
pastor is not that of the English clergyman. Such in- 
feriority and social exclusion are only accentuated in the 
case of the Russian pope, who is, speaking generally, un- 
educated. History and custom have been responsible for 

388 



SAKHALIN TO VLADIVOSTOK 389 

rendering the Russian clergy a separate class. The rural 
priest, excluded by his bringing up from the society of the 
cultured, has by his training and family been separated 
from the peasant class. 

His position is further differentiated from that of our 
clergy, and his office rendered a difficult and even obnoxious 
one, by the manner of his remuneration. Excepting in a 
few cases, he is totally dependent upon fees, and this 
naturally results in regrettable altercations and haggling 
at confirmations, weddings, and burials. Scandals are 
created, and stories are even current of secret interments 
by poor peasants to evade the grasping hand of the pope. 
If such a system of payment engenders in too many cases 
greed, social functions tempt the priest to drunkenness. 
The temptations are many and insidious. It is not always 
the attraction which a feast has for a man living in poverty, 
but the duties of his position which lure him into intoxica- 
tion. As their priest, he is expected to make himself 
sociable with his parishioners, and on certain occasions — 
at Christmas, Easter, etc. — when he goes round the village 
blessing each house, he would cause great offence if he did 
not accept a glass of vodka at each. He is called in on 
all popular festive occasions, and on Sakhalin when the 
Government or Crown bank was opened, the pope was 
there to inaugurate it, with the reading of a service, and 
the sprinkling of the walls with holy water. A feast followed, 
and of course the habit of drinking begun at functions does 
not stop with them. 

When I visited Due, my interpreter took me to see the 
little schoolroom in which he taught his pupils, and, as we 
were walking up the street talking about the school, he 
remarked on the difficulty he had, in pursuance of his 
instructions, to get the children to respect their priest. 
" How can I do it," he said, " when they find the priest 
lying drunk in the gutter ? Of course, their first impulse 
is to pelt him with stones." 



390 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

All I met in my travels spoke with a contempt of the 
Russian pope, no less bitter than the hatred of a socialist 
in Paris towards the Roman Catholic priest. It is con- 
sidered in Russia to be unlucky to meet a pope on first 
leaving home ; yet it is curious that, openly as the peasants 
may deride and pour contempt upon him, the moment he 
dons his robes their attitude is at once changed, and he is 
their respected priest, the intercessor between them and the 
Power above. But it would be unfair and untrue to accept 
these dicta alone, and thus label all the Russian clergy. 
There are many excellent and saintly exceptions, and the 
Synod is now aiming at better discipline, and a higher 
standard of education. Nor should we overlook the diffi- 
culties of the rural priest, his social ostracism, his pecuniary 
straits, and the temptations that his office occasions him. 
His work is not always easy ; and sometimes at the peril 
of his life he has to fight against the bitter cold and deep 
snow-drifts, in ministering to the needs of his flock. 

On Sakhalin it was not to be expected that the priests 
would be superior to their brethren in Russia. With one 
exception, at Derbensk, those whom I met and heard of 
were scarcely a degree better than the rest of the officials, 
either in regard to drinking or morality. I will not attempt 
to repeat the stories I heard of them, but here is one con- 
cerning rectitude in financial matters which was told me by 
one of the chief actors in it. A prisoner of rank, who 
arrived on the island in 1897, was approached by the pope 

at . As a result of this interview, the prisoner, who 

was of an obliging temperament, and thought it well to 
cultivate friendly relations, went straight to Mr. Y. and 
asked him, as a matter of business, for a loan of 300 
rubles. Now Mr. Y., knowing the family of the prisoner, 
was willing to do it, but, fully aware of the dangers of 
plunging thus early into debt, politely inquired if the 
loan was for his client's own use. The new arrival ex- 
plained that it was a private matter, but was induced to 



SAKHALIN TO VLADIVOSTOK 391 

mention that the priest in question had asked him for an 
advance. Whereupon Mr. Y., while not refusing the loan, 
counselled his client not to oblige the pope, since he must 
never expect to see it back again. Explanations followed, 
and the true story transpired. The prisoner learned that 
the priest had taken 300 rubles out of the poor-box in 
the church, and as the annual opening of the box was 
impending, he had to find that sum. In the end, the 
pope prevailed upon some of the officials to advance him 
the money, for they were all in the same boat. 

The Russian law insists that every official — not be- 
longing to any of the acknowledged religions other than 
the Orthodox Catholic Church — shall receive the Com- 
munion once a year ; but it is well known that this law is 
frequently obeyed in the letter rather than the spirit. With 
the connivance of the priest, the signature of the commu- 
nicant in the book is sufficient ; the Communion is not 
administered, but the priest gets his fee. Needless to say, 
this is what happened with most of the convicts, and the 
Government paid the fees. The only spiritual care that 
the inmates of the prison received from the priests was on 
a great feast-day, as on October 1 (O.S.), when a pro- 
cession was made from the church to the prison, and there, 
after a few minutes' service, the prisoners were allowed to 
come forward and kiss the cross held up by the priest. 

Not to the priests, but to a certain lady who had braved 
hardship and peril, did the prisoners look for help. In her 
a new hope had dawned upon Sakhalin, two years previous 
to my visit. I found her living in a wooden house giving 
off that unenviable spot, the market-place. It was after 
dark when I called, and it was always a work of some time 
and patience to gain an entrance anywhere after dark. A 
side door of the adjacent courtyard, in which a couple of 
savage dogs were raging to get at us, was stealthily opened, 
after a parleying from behind it. Then an adjournment to 
the other door followed, and the janitor, being satisfied as 



392 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

to our amicable intentions, admitted me and Mr. X. to a 
large room filled with books and magazines, undergoing 
repair at the hands of exiles. We passed through this to 
the inner sanctum of Sister de Mayer. She had not yet 
returned, and we had leisure to glance round the simply 
furnished room, and enjoy for once a blazing fire, d 
ranglaise, instead of the great closed but more effective 
Russian stove. Miss Eugenie de Mayer is a young lady 
of slight build, somewhat pale-looking, but with a face 
expressive of great determination and enthusiasm. The 
daughter of a well-known philanthropist, General de Mayer, 
she comes from a wealthy home, where life around her held 
every social attraction. It was the reading of Chekov's 
description of the life of convicts on Sakhalin that awoke 
her to the awful realities of that life, and inspired her with 
the longing to go and help. 

In England the desire to do benevolent work has free 
scope, but in Russia it is by no means so ; help of this 
kind borders dangerously on reform, and it was necessary 
for Miss de Mayer to proceed gradually and prudently. 
She had already qualified herself as nurse of the Red Cross 
Society, a qualification which is high in a country of such 
long distances, where the nurse has often to take the place 
of the doctor ; and she took the first step towards reaching 
Sakhalin by joining an emigrant train as medical attendant. 
We can hardly conceive of the conditions into which she 
now plunged. A lady born and bred, she spent months 
attending these poor and filthy muzkiki, her home an 
empty baggage van, which had in emergency to serve as 
a hospital. While thus engaged, the position of matron 
in the Sakhalin orphan home was offered to her, and thus 
came the opportunity of reaching the island. 

Several years previously some charitable ladies of St. 
Petersburg, under the highest patronage, had established 
a refuge and home on Sakhalin for the children of con- 
victs born, on the road to Sakhalin, or in prison. The 



SAKHALIN TO VLADIVOSTOK 393 

management of this may have been comparatively satisfac- 
tory at first, but soon became no exception to the rest of 
the administration on the island ; for the state of this Home 
in 1898 would have utterly shocked its charitable founders. 
The sixty inmates of both sexes, some of them by that 
time grown up men and women, were living indiscriminately 
together. 

Miss de Mayer's labour was entirely voluntary, and 
with her unbounded enthusiasm she set to work to re- 
organize the institution. The difficulties she met with can 
scarcely be conceived ; but to mention only one, the staff 
of teachers, who had care of the children and their morals, 
was composed of ex-convicts, of whom some were murderers. 

This reorganization completed, and the work set going 
again, she was ready to follow up what had always been 
her chief object. This was to render aid, temporal and 
spiritual, to the prisoners. Their fate had weighed heavily 
upon her heart, and now, turning her attention towards 
them, she penetrated, with the consent of the Governor, 
into the very worst gaol, the kandalnaya turma, or 
" chained prison." Such success is a surprise to any one 
who knows Sakhalin and its officials, for any new schemes 
or attempts at reform, even of the purely benevolent kind, 
are looked at askance. But the Imperial Charity Society 
of St. Petersburg, and the Tsaritsa herself, were behind 
Miss de Mayer. On Sundays she was even allowed to 
take occasionally the Protestant service in the little wooden 
Lutheran church since the pastor visits the island but 
once a year. Meanwhile the reader, who has perused the 
previous chapters of this book, will realize the dangers 
which surrounded this heroic lady. Among the thousands 
of murderers at large, who are to be met in the forest, in 
the street, and even in one's house, Miss de Mayer moved 
unscathed, and many were the poor creatures helped by 
her, who were willing to defend her against their own 
kind with their lives. An incident which happened in the 



394 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

summer of 1899 illustrates this, and shows of what stuff 
Miss de Mayer is made. A convict gang of 200, with 
three or four officers and several guards, was sent up to 
Onor, a hamlet in the interior, to erect a telegraph-line 
through the primeval forest southwards. In a previous 
chapter (XVI.) the difficulties and perils attending the 
making of the road as far as Onor have been described. 

Notwithstanding all the obstacles and dangers of swamps 
and mosquitoes, Miss de Mayer, unaccompanied by any 
of her sex, joined these 200 convicts, nursing the sick, 
teaching some to read, and ministering alike to their 
physical and spiritual needs. One night, lying in her little 
tent, a mere piece of canvas with birch bark at either end, 
she thought she overheard voices outside, and peering out, 
descried two convicts. They caught sight of her, and called 
reassuringly, " All right, lady, we are watching to see that 
you come to no harm." 

Heroic as her efforts were in the " chained " prison, she 
soon became convinced that her time and energy would 
be better spent in preventing the prisons being filled by 
recidivists, than by merely trying to raise those already 
there. I have dwelt at length on the difficulties of the " exile- 
settlers," the men who, their sentence having expired, have 
to earn their own living on an island where opportunities 
of employment are rare. Rations, it is true, are allowed 
them for a year, though in practice they do not always 
get them. In addition to those who give up the struggle 
as hopeless, there are, of course, hundreds who easily lapse 
and slide into a lawless, good-for-nothing life. Miss de 
Mayer recognized at once the main want, and she saw 
that, if only employment were forthcoming, there were a 
great many who would avail themselves of the opportunity 
of steady work to become decent citizens. The official 
solution of the unemployed problem was simplicity itself — 
to clap them into gaol. The Sister attempted a far more 
difficult answer to the question. Her house was promptly 



SAKHALIN TO VLADIVOSTOK 395 

turned into a factory ; and on a second visit I found not 
only books being sewn and bound, with a view to the 
establishment of a reading-room, but men squatted on the 
floors making brooms and sewing blouses. 

More than a year previous the work had been inter- 
rupted by another and unexpected call, which deprived 
it of Miss de Mayer's presence for more than a year, but, 
fortunately, not for an indefinite period. In the summer 
of 1900 the eyes of Europe were turned anxiously towards 
the east, watching and waiting for news of the besieged 
legations in Peking. In Sakhalin the news of the war 
stirred their hearts. To Miss de Mayer came the 
picture of the need of sick and dying soldiers ; and she 
alone in the empire volunteered to go and nurse them. 
Russia rang with her praises, but, with her usual modesty, 
she was only anxious that any eclat she had gained 
should redound to the benefit of her work on Sakhalin. 
Having braved innumerable difficulties and dangers, and 
made her way across Eastern Mongolia alone, on an 
artillery waggon, she reached Europe only to begin work- 
ing hard, lecturing, and collecting funds for the employment 
of ex-convicts. Many gifts in money and kind were forth- 
coming, from the Tsaritsa downwards, but perhaps the 
most appreciated and the most touching of all was the 
gift of forty kopyeks (io<^.) from a poor prisoner in 
Samarkand. The funds collected amounted to a few 
hundred pounds, a totally inadequate sum to do half 
what was pressingly needed ; and she had reason to be 
only too conscious of the quick decline of interest in Russia. 
About a month previous to my arrival on the island Miss 
de Mayer had returned, according to reports, " laden with 
tons of gold." This was unfortunate in attracting the 
ne'er-do-well ; and the consequent disappointment on being 
offered not gold, but work, was widespread. However, 
" exile-settlers " began to apply in answer to her invitation, 
until she had eventually to turn away large numbers, many 



396 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

of whom came to earn only what was necessary to keep 
body and soul together. At this time she was employing 
about 150 ; the women wove and dyed mats, made fishing- 
nets and sewed blouses, while the men made military boots 
and baskets. Space and funds had limited the numbers 
of employed, but, even so, Miss de Mayer discovered that 
she had to face the difficulty of over-production. The 
local demand for her products was soon satisfied, and 
she found herself with a surplus stock. On Sakhalin and 
the adjoining mainland, outside of the official class, there 
are practically no residents, and therefore the continued 
employment of these poor people was seriously jeopardized. 
Last year she therefore took the opportunity which summer 
gave, with its demand for out-door workers, of going over 
to the mainland, partly to find a market for surplus stock, 
and partly with another and very important object in 
view. 

I have already mentioned that about ninety-nine out of 
every hundred convicts, sent to Sakhalin, fail to get away. 
At the end of the six years following on the termination 
of his sentence the " exile settler " becomes a " peasant," 
with the right to go to the mainland. In certain instances 
the Chief of his district may even allow him to go earlier ; 
but in either case the great difficulty to be overcome is the 
obtaining of sufficient funds, or the personal interest of a 
Siberian employer who will make a definite offer of em- 
ployment. Miss de Mayer saw that the influence of the 
prison island was baneful, even upon those who had the 
" rights of motion ; " and with the transference to the main- 
land new scenes and surroundings might bring hope. 
One of her objects, therefore, in journeying to Nikolaevsk 
was to establish there a labour bureau, and she hoped that, 
by supplying it with a careful selection of men, the 
employers in Eastern Siberia and Manchuria, would be 
induced to engage these ex-convicts from Sakhalin. At 
first the attitude of the officials on the island towards Miss 



SAKHALIN TO VLADIVOSTOK 397 

de Mayer's work and plans was purely objective, they 
neither helped nor interfered, but perhaps the influence 
of the Tsaritsa, or let us hope, the truly wonderful improve- 
ment in the exiles, who came under the Sister's influence, 
has produced a marked alteration in the officials' behaviour. 
The change in the conduct of these ex- convicts has been 
very remarkable. Men who were brutes, murdering for 
the sake of a few kopyeks, whom nothing, not even the 
lash, could subdue, gather on holidays in the Sister's room 
to listen to the singing, recitation, the gramophone, and to 
watch the magic-lantern slides, which friends in Russia have 
now sent to them. They have quickly learned to respect 
the law of kindness, and now there is neither excess nor 
rowdyism. 

" The Society for the Care of Convict-exiles' Families " 
has showed its appreciation of Miss de Mayer's work 
by a loan and a contribution to the work. There is crying 
need for an extension of premises and for an increase of 
the allotments of land. The foundress hopes, as the 
establishment grows, to be able to dispose of surplus 
production in Europe. To me, Miss de Mayer's arrival 
on the island seems the greatest and most hopeful event 
in the history of convict life there, and it would be a great 
pity if her efforts should fail or be limited by want of 
funds. 

I was glad not to have left the island without the 
knowledge of this one ray of hope for the poor prisoners. 
My departure was now drawing nigh, for on the receipt of 
the belated reply -telegram I once more found myself in 
possession of funds, and in a position to consider how and 
when I could get away from Sakhalin. It was late in the 
season for navigation ; but there remained one more mail- 
boat due to call, and if for any reason it failed, I could fall 
back upon the convict ship the Yaroslav. Waiting thus 
on possibilities, I was aroused at five o'clock one morning 
with the news that a cargo vessel was standing in, and now 



398 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

came my opportunity. A second messenger followed in 
half an hour bringing news that the Tsitsikar was only 
going on to the coal mines at Vladimirsk, twenty versts to 
the north, and that the weather being clear, there was no 
immediate likelihood of her having to take refuge over in 
De Castries Bay. This gave me time to make necessary 
arrangements, for the vagaries of vessels off the coast of 
Sakhalin were such that it was well to be prepared. In fact, 
by evening a light breeze had sprung up, and fearing lest the 
steamer should bolt over to the mainland, without calling 
at Alexandrovsk, I boarded one of the two little steam- 
tugs and made my way along the coast to join her at the 
mines. 

Coal is found at several places along the western coast, 
but is chiefly worked at Due and Vladimirsk. I have even 
seen a seam of brown coal in an exposure on the river 
Tim. The coal worked is a good lignite, on the whole 
superior to Japanese as a steam coal, and commands a 
higher price. Were it not for the poverty of the lading 
arrangements, and the consequent uncertainty of the fulfil- 
ment of contracts, it would be better known and in greater 
request. There have always been conflicting estimates of 
its probable extent, but it would appear that the authori- 
ties are now optimistic. A scheme which has been floating 
in the air for years — the building of a mole from Jonquiere 
Head to the rocks called "The Three Brothers," so as to 
afford shelter for shipping, and the laying down of a rail- 
road between Vladimirsk, Alexandrovsk, and Mikhailovsk — 
was revived in earnest last year, and contracts placed for 
timber. This would render the process of loading simple, 
regular and dependable. 

The present means of lading are absurdly inadequate. 
The rate of working is ludicrously slow. Twenty-five tons 
had been shot into the bunks of the Tsitsikar in one day, 
and I counted more than that number of convicts at work. 
Only one lighter was available, the others had been driven 



SAKHALIN TO VLADIVOSTOK 399 

on shore by bad weather. The most unsatisfactory feature 
about it is the fickleness of the weather and the absence of 
safe anchorage. The drawbacks of the present system 
were fully exemplified in the case of the Tsitsikar. This 
vessel, which was one of the fleet of the " Chinese Eastern 
(Manchurian) Railway and Steam Shipping Company," had 
been three weeks attempting to get two thousand tons on 
board, and had so far succeeded in taking on one hundred 
and fifty only. 

There was no difficulty about the mining. The con- 
victs simply approached the coal on the level and tunnelled 
into it. Vladimirsk was like a rabbit warren. As soon 
as the coal became poor, that particular spot was abandoned 
and another chosen. The coal sells to merchants at about 
six rubles a ton, and the convicts engaged in the mines 
(and only these) get 10 per cent, of the value of their 
output. 

Clambering on board the Tsitsikar I found the captain, 
who, with a surprised look, asked — 
" Are you a passenger ? " 
"Yes." 

" Where do you want to go ? " 
" To Vladivostok." 

"Well, I don't know where I'm going." To further 
inquiries he replied, " I shall cross over to De Castries, and 
there I may find a telegram ordering me to Nagasaki, 
Port Arthur, or Shanghai. You see I have no cargo, I 
have not been able to load up with coal, so there is no 
reason for me to go to Vladivostok." 

This was unexpected ; but I decided to venture. The 
next morning another attempt was made to get a little 
more coal on board. Again the dirty ill-clad figures were 
at work, with only a drill shirt and trousers and top-boots 
in the cold raw morning air of an October day at sea ; and 
I wondered, as I watched them, if these had gambled away 
their warm clothes. The wind had begun by blowing from 



400 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

the east, and, as the captain prophesied, worked round to 
a fair south-westerly breeze culminating in a strong north- 
westerly. It was soon too much for the lighter, and threat- 
ened to be dangerous for us. The barge was loosed, an 
official came on and counted off the convicts, on whom a 
very sharp look had been kept ; the anchor was weighed, 
and I bade farewell to Sakhalin. How enviable was my lot 
compared with that of the twenty and odd thousand con- 
demned ones whose hearts ever went out in longing for the 
homeland, and who must live and die on this lonely prison 
island. True, the majority of them had sinned, and done 
evil in the sight of God and their fellow-men ; but one 
could not restrain one's pity for the hopelessness of their 
present situation ; and for those whose offence had been 
light, it was cruel that they should be condemned to a life- 
long banishment in such a degrading atmosphere. 

As I have said before, the administration is answerable 
for the majority of ills on Sakhalin. The system would be 
bettered by the provision for a more careful classification 
of the prisoners, and it is quite evident that the penalty of 
death should be extended to the murderer of a civilian, as 
well as an official on Sakhalin. Only by such means can 
the security of the law-abiding inhabitant be ensured. But 
the crying fault is the failure of the officials, their slackness 
and arbitrariness, their open immorality and peculation. 
Making all allowance for the demoralizing atmosphere of 
the criminal population among whom their duty places 
them, the state of things I have so meagrely sketched is a 
terrible indictment. 

Closer and more regular inspection from headquarters 
is needed ; but above and before all, the appointment of a 
strong, firm, but benevolent governor is desirable. He 
must be strong enough to fear no cavilling reports from his 
underlings, and must have power to dismiss and reform 
without regard to the prescriptive right of long-standing, 
evil-doing officials of the Patrin stamp. There are a few 




FAREWELL TO SAKHALIN. \_To face page 4OO. 



y 



1Z5 



SAKHALIN TO VLADIVOSTOK 401 

well-intentioned, kindly men among them, but they are not 
strong ; and the network woven by the arbitrary, peculating, 
and immoral type is almost impossible to break through. 

The morning after my departure saw the Tsitsikar 
standing in for De Castries Bay. It is a well-sheltered 
harbour, with a depth at entrance of fifty feet, diminish- 
ing to thirty feet off Observatory Island, a bold islet so 
named by La Perouse, because his officers set up their 
instruments on it, after a long interval, to determine their 
exact position. To the south of this is a small islet called 
Oyster Island, and to the north-east is Basalt Island. Near 
the southern head stands up on the promontory of Kloster 
Kamp a fine lighthouse, then about to be deserted by the 
pilots with the cessation of navigation. On the north- 
western shore of the bay, at the mouth of the river Somon, 
is Alexandrovsk post, consisting of a telegraph-office, with 
the houses of the Chief and his assistants, and a tiny 
church and barracks for the small company of soldiers 
stationed there. To the north and south stretch forests, 
uninhabited save by a few roaming Oroktis. Around the 
bay the hills rise to a height of 1100 and even to 1540 feet, 
thickly clothed with trees, save where the tell-tale brown 
slopes witnessed to fires carelessly lighted by the Russians. 
It is a lonely spot at any time, and especially in winter. 
Cut off by ice from all navigation, it is only accessible to the 
post by dog-sledges from the river Amur, which is itself 
served by relays of horse-sledges from distant parts. Only 
in one respect was it at that time better off than Alexan- 
drovsk ; the telegraph-wire connecting it with Vladivostok 
was intact. In this secluded spot the Chinese Eastern 
Railway and Steam Shipping Company had just stationed 
an agent. What he could be doing in winter I do not 
know ; but if his wish was to be " far from the madding 
crowd," he could scarcely have chosen a better place. His 
log-house was perched on the cliffs on the south side of the 
river, about three miles distant from the " post." Below was 

2 D 



402 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

a tiny wharf, where a store of coal was supposed to be kept 
for the fleet. 

To my disappointment, a telegram had been received 
ordering the Tsitsikar to return to Sakhalin with the 
mail, and I felt that if we began this trotting to and fro, 
there would be no certainty as to when it would end. I 
had also received official notice that the Manchurian Railway 
would be opened on the following Saturday. I may say 
here that, so far from this being correct, through passenger 
traffic has only been announced this year. As I was most 
anxious to reach England by Christmas, and as time was 
short, I determined to do what I could to prevent the 
return to the island. I therefore represented to the agent 
that the antiquated gunboat, the Tungus, which had already 
wasted so much time in trying to mend the cable, lay in 
the harbour ; and that the Governor of Sakhalin himself 
had requested the Governor-general to allow him to use 
that vessel for the transport of telegrams between the main- 
land and the island, and therefore it might just as well take 
the mails. Meanwhile, in either case, they had to be 
fetched from the shore. The captain was remaining with 
the agent to talk over his instructions, and the chief mate, 
the only other person who talked enough English to be 
understood by the Chinese crew, was in charge of the 
vessel ; I was, therefore, asked to take a boat with the 
Chinese bo'sun and two of the crew to the shore. It was 
two to three miles distant, and all the directions for landing 
that I could get from the chief mate were that I should 
see a cliff-ladder on nearing the shore. It seemed odd that 
I, who was regarded as a military spy, should now be sent 
to fetch the Russian mails. But my functions, I found, 
were to be confined to coxing the boat and acting as 
interpreter between the bo'sun and the telegraph Chief. 
This was done by means of pidgin English, some Russian, 
and a little German. By good luck I sighted the rude 
steps cut in the cliff, and leaving one of our crew in charge 



SAKHALIN TO VLADIVOSTOK 403 

of the boat, we clambered up the cliff, and passing by the 
church reached the post-office. A little way to the north- 
east of this is a mound, with a cannon-ball on it, said to 
commemorate the unsuccessful attempt of the English and 
French during the Crimean War. In the post-office we 
found the old postmaster, to whom I explained our mission. 
Considering that we were not exactly on the hub of the 
universe, and that letters did not pour in every few minutes, 
but trickled in at intervals sometimes of weeks, the delay 
in finishing off that mail could hardly be due to anxiety to 
include the latest arrivals. Two hours elapsed before all 
was ready, during which the old postmaster, who had lived 
here seventeen years, waxed quite friendly ; charts and 
maps were produced, and possible changes in the contour 
of the land discussed. 

As I made my way back to the boat, I came upon an 
outflow of lava, as might be expected in its proximity to 
Basalt Island, but interesting in view of its hitherto un- 
discovered occurrence on Sakhalin. That this is not an 
isolated flow, or exposure, is evident from the legend of the 
Oroktis. They say that once upon a time there were three 
suns in the sky. It was so hot then that men lived in the 
water ; but one day a man determined to shoot these suns, 
and, hiding in a hole, he managed to hit two of them, 
which, falling into the water, hissed and spluttered out, and 
thereafter the earth cooled. The "porous," or "sponge," 
stones still found are relics of these times. 

On boarding the Tsitsikar, I found to my relief that my 
suggestion had been adopted, and that the mails were to 
be transferred to the Tungus. The best news of all was 
that our vessel was ordered to call at Vladivostok. The 
distance to be covered was about 720 knots, and we hugged 
the coast for most of the way, giving it a respectable berth 
at night, for the chart, though dated 1900 and based on an 
English one, expressed itself uncertain to the extent of 
nine miles as to the position of the coast-line. For 120 



404 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

miles portions of the contour of Sakhalin were visible in 
the east. To the west the coast of the mainland rose bold 
and high, and inland stretched, seemingly, illimitable forests. 
For long distances the coast-line is rugged and white, ex- 
posing a hard limestone, and behind range deeply-furrowed 
mountains, jagged and steep, running north-west and south- 
east. This is the Sikhota Alin range. On the map several 
settlements are marked, but scarcely any exist besides the 
little one at Emperor's Bay, a beautiful bight where the 
level of the land begins to be lower. The Chinese are 
engaged in summer in fishing, the gathering of trepang 
or beche de mer (holotkurea) — an edible sea-worm and table 
delicacy — and seaweed ; but since 1901, I believe, a pro- 
hibition against other than Russian subjects has hit them 
hard. Our voyage began with bright sunshiny weather, and 
in latitude 51 north the crew were mopping the decks, 
but six degrees nearer the equator, in latitude 45 , they 
were using marline-spikes to break up the ice — such was the 
effect of a northerly wind in these parts. Our captain was 
from the Baltic provinces, and, like all I have met with 
from that part of Russia, was ready to freely criticize the 
Government and all things Russian. It was not to be 
expected that the chief engineer should escape his remarks. 
" In these days any man who professed a knowledge of 
nuts and screws could become a ship's engineer. What 
was the result ? Here was a good ship, built in England 
only six years ago, and it was being spoiled already." I 
began to think there was something more than jealousy in 
these words, when twice in one day we broke down. The 
feeding-pump refused to work, sails were unfurled, and we 
began to look forward to an extended voyage in the Straits 
of Tartary. Progress was very slow, but on the evening of 
the sixth day the Tsitsikar entered the Golden Horn. It 
was 9 p.m., and as we approached a great light on our star- 
board, a voice rang out through the darkness, " What ho ! 
Steamer there ! " It was a reminder that vessels are not 



SAKHALIN TO VLADIVOSTOK 405 

allowed to enter Vladivostok harbour between sunset and 
sunrise. 

According to the information sent to the agent on 
Sakhalin, the Manchurian Railway was to be officially 
opened on the following day, and as that day was Sunday, 
and the day after that a holiday — how many " holy days " 
there are in Russia! — I was anxious to make all arrange- 
ments before the two feast-days intervened. It was cus- 
tomary to wait for the visit of the police on board, but, 
leaving my goods and chattels scattered about, I slipped 
ashore to see the kindly American Consul, the railway 
agent, and to visit the Russo-Chinese Bank, etc. The same 
motley group of Chinese, Japanese, Manchus, Koreans, 
gipsies, Golds, etc., was moving in kaleidoscopic fashion 
in the bazar, as I stepped from the sampan. The only 
difference since my last visit was that many of them had 
donned winter costume, and were thickly girt about in 
wadded cotton, and the Manchus and the Chinese from 
Chifu crowned in martial-looking felt caps, with three 
lappets adorned with balls of long fur. 

I was soon disillusioned as to the opening of the Chinese 
Eastern or Manchurian Railway. It was neither officially 
opened nor even completed. There had been a gap in 
the railroad of as much as 200 versts, but this it 
was hoped would be bridged in the course of a day 
or two. As to my getting through before the line was 
thrown open, all Englishmen I well knew were refused, not 
point-blank, but with that polite but oft-repeated reference 
to another authority, which turns out to be an interminable 
process. I had already met an English colonel who had 
been turned back, and whose later movements had been 
shadowed. I began by putting a bold face upon it, and 
asking the engineer who dispensed passes for permission 
to travel, but he referred me to the Governor. In another 
quarter, I was strongly dissuaded from interviewing the 
latter, who, I was informed, would not or could not give 



406 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

me permission ; and by making my intention public, I 
might defeat my object should I try some other method. 

In this state of things there seemed but one course to 
be adopted, that advised by an old traveller. This was to 
take the train as far as the frontier between the Primorsk 
and Manchuria, to descend there, hire a telyega and drive 
across the boundary, then pick up the train wherever I 
might, trusting to tips to the conductor to pass me through. 
In the course of the day, while still seeking informa- 
tion, I happened upon a merchant who, I learned, was 
meditating going up as far as Kharbin. With great kind- 
ness he agreed to do what he could to get me included in 
his pass as his book-keeper. Through the medium of a friend 
of the engineer this was accomplished, and in three or four 
days I looked forward to starting. This interval was 
passed pleasantly in visits to the museum, and to those 
who were in office there, of whom, as is usual, several 
were men who had been exiled for " having been overheard 
thinking." 

On November 7 my merchant " employer " and I pre- 
sented ourselves at the station, he to reach Kharbin, 491 
miles distant, I bound for London, over 7000 miles 
away. To do this it was necessary first to reach the 
frontier of the Primorsk, then to cross Manchuria, next 
to take the branch-line of the Trans-Baikalian Railway, 
and afterwards the main line to Lake Baikal. The lake 
crossed, three and a half hours' journey would bring me to 
Irkutsk, where I should be within eight days of Moscow. 
From Vladivostok to St. Petersburg by this route is a 
distance of 5680 miles, and now this journey may be 
accomplished in sixteen days. But in November, 1901, it 
took nearly this time (fifteen days) to cross Manchuria 
itself, which is but a sixth part of the journey ; and I had 
been told that Manchuria would be traversed in about six 
days, but this was not the only surprise in railway travel 
that awaited me. 



CHAPTER XXI 
ACROSS MANCHURIA 

A brief historic sketch — Area and resources — Railway route — Scenery 
— Journey in a construction train — Kharbin — Difficulty of finding 
the train — The steppe — Approaching Tsitsikar — A poor railroad. 

THE advance of Russia into Manchuria has focused 
the attention of the student of politics in the far 
East upon that country. It is a land whose 
history would be difficult to write, its early story being 
merged in the obscurity of unrecorded wanderings of wild 
tribes. A stray reference or two in the many tomed 
annals of the Chinese Empire but lifts the curtain to drop 
it again and plunge us into darkness. 

The present interest displayed in Manchuria, and the 
absence of any history of the country, must be my excuse 
for stopping at this point of the narrative of my journey to 
sketch in faintest outline what we know of its story. 

There seems no doubt that the present reigning 

(Manchu) dynasty of China is descended from the people 

called Nu-ch'ih. The Nii-ch'ih (or Nii-chen) in their turn 

were descendants of the Suh-shen,* who are mentioned as 

having brought " tribute of a famous description of arrow 

in the year 1103 B.C." to the Chinese Court. For the 

next 2000 years there is mention of an intermediate race 

in the same genealogical line, the Yih-lou, who are 

described as "a kind of Troglodytes" (200 A.D.), who 

* Nii is considered to be a modification of Suh. 
407 



408 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

smeared their bodies with fat in winter, and whose 
dwellings were "compared to grave mounds," with the 
entrance at the summit (500 A.D.).* 

But by the eleventh century the civilization of the 
neighbouring Chinese Empire had made itself felt, and 
already a section of the Nu-chens were known by the term 
Civilized Nu-chens, as distinct from the "Wild Nii-chens 
who had retreated beyond the Sahalien (Amur) river." 

Near neighbours, of the same Tungus stock, f the Si-tans 
or Khitans had in the middle of the tenth century gained 
considerable power, and spread their dominion over Liao- 
Tung, and what is now the northern part of China, in- 
cluding the provinces of Chi-li and Shen-si. This expansion 
at the expense of the great southern power brought on 
war. China, then ruled by the Sung dynasty, called in 
the aid of the Nu-chens, who, under an able leader, Akuta, 
proved victorious over the Khitans. This general took the 
title of Emperor of the Kin (gold) Tartars (n 15 A.D.), and 
a quarrel ensuing with his allies, he carried the war into 
their country, and not only conquered the provinces of 
Chi-li and Shen-si, but for a long time held Honan. It 
is clear that the Nii-chens had made great strides in 
military organization ; though, unlike their neighbours the 
Khitans, who had in the tenth century adopted a written 
character for their language, their chiefs still issued orders 
by the old device of an arrow with a notch in it, while 
matters of urgency were distinguished by three notches. 
However, with the establishment of the Kin dynasty, rapid 
advance was made, and written characters were invented, 
and during their short era of dominion we read of the 
establishment of a Board of History. 

A new and terrible enemy now arrived on the scene, 
who threatened not only the Powers of the East, but even 
those of the West and advanced into Europe. The 

* Et seq. A. Wylie's " Chinese Researches." 

t Trans, of the Asiatic Soc. of Japan, vol. xviii. E. H. Parker. 



ACROSS MANCHURIA 409 

Mongols, under Chinghis Khan, swept down upon China 
and its neighbours. Space will not allow me to detail the 
events which brought about the overthrow of the Nii-chens, 
but their fall was so absolute that they now receded 
into the northern portions of the present Manchuria, and 
gradually declined into their old ways of living. 

In 1586, a Chinese author, Wang-K'e, in the supple- 
ment * to the " Antiquarian Researches," t describes the 
country in question in his time as occupied by the Wild 
Nu-ch'ihs, who follow the hunt, and breed horses, and live 
in portable tents much like the Mongol nomads to-day. 
Some of the tribes, " 3000 li distant from Nu-wih-kan," 
figure their faces and fasten up their hair in a knot, etc., 
and generally appear to resemble the Golds of the Amur 
to-day. 

The Nii-chens, fallen back into their old state, were 
only kept under, and their predatory excursions checked, 
by strong military arrangements on the marches. ' Such 
was the state of matters about 1580, when a man above 
the ordinary stamp appeared on the arena,' in the 
person of Nurhachu, afterwards known as T'ai-tsu. Born 
in the present Manchu province of Feng-t'ien, of an 
obscure family, his military skill, undaunted courage and 
perseverance united the tribes south of the Sahalien river. 
Troubles soon arose with the Ming dynasty in China, and 
in 16 1 8 he published his grievances against that power, 
and made an attack which was crowned with victory. In 
1626 he died, but his son, following up his father's con- 
quests, was proclaimed emperor, though his son, the grand- 
son of Nurhachu, who ascended the throne in 1644, is 
regarded as the first of the Ts'ing or Manchu dynasty. 
The latter name was that of the tribe to which the family 
belonged. 

* The " Suh-wan-teen-t'ung-k'aou." 254 vols. A. Wylie, op. tit. 
f The "Wan-heen-t'img-K'aou." By Ma Twan-lin. 348 vols. 
A. Wylie, op. tit. 



410 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

During the reign of the Ming dynasty ( 1368- 1644), 
most of what is called to-day the Feng-t'ien or southern 
province of Manchuria had remained under Chinese juris- 
diction, and large numbers of Chinese had settled here ; 
in fact, it is said that the greater part of the present 
population (17,000,000) of Manchuria are descendants of 
these. Since the accession of the present, Ts'ing, dynasty 
Chinese convicts have been despatched into Manchuria, 
and many escaping have turned to the more lucrative 
profession of brigandage. To them Russian policy to-day 
owes a debt of gratitude ; for should the political con- 
siderations of deep-laid schemes demand concentration 
of troops, then it is only necessary to spread rumours 
of the rising of the Khunhus brigands to allay the sus- 
picions of other Powers. Latterly, the immigration of 
the Chinese agricultural labourer has been the great 
feature, a movement encouraged by the authorities in 
face of the threatened advance of Russia. 

The first definite step towards the Russian advance 
into Manchuria was made in 1858, when the Treaty of 
Aigun gave Russia the right of navigation of the Sungari 
river. " Scientific " expeditions had previously voyaged 
up the great river, and though the annexation of the 
country was not within practical politics, and was left to 
the " future and Providence," these were no doubt the 
thin end of the wedge. 

The rest is recent history. The idea became a definite 
plan with the signing of the agreement between the 
Russo-Chinese Bank and the Chinese Government in 
1896, sanctioning the construction of the Chinese Eastern 
Railway. 

The area that to-day bears the name of Manchuria 
is bounded on the north by the Amur river ; on the 
west by the river Argun, Mongolia, and a pare of the 
Chi-li province ; on the south by the Pechi-li Gulf and 
Yellow Sea ; and on the east by Korea and the Ussuri 



ACROSS MANCHURIA 4" 

river.* Its seaboard is therefore confined to the southern 
province, and chiefly to the Liao-tung peninsula, the eastern 
coast between the river Tumen and the mouth of the Amur 
having been ceded to Russia in i860. 

The three provinces, the northern, central, and southern, 
are respectively named Heh-lung-kiang,f Kirin, and Feng- 
t'ien or Shing-king. 

The southern province, including the Liao-tung penin- 
sula, at the end of which lies Port Arthur, is the richest, 
the best developed, and the most populous of the three. 
In area it is only one-sixth of the whole, and rejoices in 
about the same square mileage as England and Wales, 
while, roughly speaking, the central and northern provinces 
are respectively double and treble that area. 

Minerals are found in all three, the coal at present 
obtained in Feng-t'ien being in great demand, and far 
superior to that from Kirin. The gold washings in Heh- 
lung-kiang, on the tributaries of the Amur, have been so 
far the most valuable, but it is possible that Feng-t'ien 
may yet rival it. The silk industry is confined to the 
latter province, and the skin and fur trade is of least 
importance in it, and of most in Heh-lung-kiang. 

The hills and mountains are thickly covered with timber, 
especially in the central and northern provinces, and there 
is considerable traffic from the former down the Yalu 
river. 

Agriculture is naturally more advanced in Kirin and 
Feng-t'ien, though there are still large areas not yet 
appropriated. In Heh-lung-kiang it is only in the richer 
valleys that cultivation exists. Considerable areas of the 

* For the exact boundaries, with the divisions of the provinces, the 
reader is referred to the map at the end of the book. 

f This is the Chinese name for the Amur river. Heh means 
black, lung, dragon, and kiang, river ; the Chinese therefore call the 
Black {Sahalien) river of the Manchus the Black Dragon river. The 
dragon's presence remains unexplained. 



412 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

last are of the nature of pure steppe, i.e. sandy, saliferous 
soil, from which soda is extracted and transported in brick 
form to China proper. This is the nature of the south- 
west portion of Heh-lung-kiang, which is chiefly occupied by 
Mongols, whose wandering herds find there scanty pasture. 

Of all the rivers which bound or flow through Man- 
churia, the Argun, the Sungari (with its important tributary 
the Nonni), and the Ussuri discharge their waters into the 
Amur in the north, and thus find outlet in the wrong 
direction for the great trade of the south ; while it is the 
smaller rivers, the Tumen, the Yalu, and the Liao, which 
trend in this direction. 

The river Nonni, rising in the Great Hsinghan or 
Khingan mountains, which lie east of that portion of the 
Argun river between lake Dalai Nor and its junction with 
the Shilka, flows south to meet the Sungari coming from 
the central province south of Kirin. From their confluence 
these rivers, now called the Sungari, flow in a north- 
easterly direction, joining the river Amur about 160 miles 
above Khabarovsk. The Sungari, like the Amur, is 
navigable for a great distance, even as far as Kirin, 
where Mr. Hosie * speaks of having seen steamboats. At 
Kharbin, where I crossed it, the river was half a mile wide. 

The traveller, crossing Manchuria by railway from 
Vladivostok, passes through only the central and northern 
provinces, whereas the line from Port Arthur traverses all 
three, joining the Vladivostok branch at Kharbin, on the 
river Sungari. The latter line passes near Mukden, the 
capital of Feng-t'ien, and the former not far from Ninguta, 
but leaves Kirin, the capital of the province of that name, 
quite away on the upper Sungari. From Kharbin the 
joint-line crosses the Sungari into Heh-lung-Kiang, and 
runs within sixteen miles of the capital Tsitsikar, on the 
Nonni, and ends within that province a few miles north- 
west of lake Dalai Nor. 

* Op. cit. 



ACROSS MANCHURIA 413 

From Vladivostok to Manchuria station, which is the 
terminus, near the Siberian border, is a distance of 1071J 
miles. From Port Arthur it is 124 miles longer. The actual 
Chinese Eastern or Manchurian line (excluding the Kharbin 
to Port Arthur section), is 943^ miles long, for from Vladi- 
vostok to Grodekov, 128 miles, the railroad is a branch of 
the Ussuri Railway, and traverses Russian territory. 

From Manchuria station, twelve miles south of the 
Siberian frontier, a loop-line of the Trans-Baikalian 
Railway, reputed to have been in working for two years, 
could be depended upon for connecting with the main line, 
which would land the traveller in a definite time, if of 
several days, at Irkutsk. 

The duration of the journey from Vladivostok to 
Manchuria station was a matter of guess-work, but I was 
assured that I might reckon on the 107 1 \ miles 
being covered in about six days. Some still declared 
that there remained nearly 200 versts of the railroad 
unfinished, while others maintained that these had 
been linked up. I was advised not to take provisions, 
since they could be obtained at buffets or wayside 
cottages. As for the condition of the line, reports 
were not so rosy, a Russian Commodore, with whom I 
discussed the condition of the railway on the night before 
I left Vladivostok, criticized the construction very severely, 
declaring that the engineers had repeated the mistake 
made on the Siberian railway, of laying the road in the 
valleys and of exposing it to the spring floods. If any 
confirmation of this were needed, is is supplied by the 
washing away of large portions of the line this summer 
(1903), compelling passengers for Peking to make great 
detours. He asked if I had heard of the collision near 
Kharbin, in which three were killed and forty injured ; 
or of one since, in which a train descending the zigzag 
before the station Duzinza, had toppled over and killed 
two of the passengers. We saw traces of these later on in 



414 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

the shape of smashed trucks and an overturned engine, 
but we reaped the benefit of these accidents in more 
prudent driving. As far as Nikolskoy (sixty-eight miles) 
we were still on the Ussuri Railway, and the accommoda- 
tion was excellent, though the train was uncomfortably 
crowded. Owing to the gradients up the valley of the 
Suifun, the pace often dropped to six miles an hour, but 
we accomplished the distance in fair time. As far as 
Nikolskoy the outlook was of great rolling hills, river-worn 
levels and forests much thinned by clearing. The country 
now wore a very brown look, reminding one of the environs 
of Adelaide at the end of summer. At Nikolskoy our 
route diverged, and we followed the branch-line of the 
Ussuri — the main line of which runs north to Khabarovsk — 
as far as Grodekov (sixty miles), named after the present 
Governor-general of the Pri-Amursky oblast. From this 
point the hills melted away into the great bare plains, but 
darkness shut out our view ere we reached Grodekov. 
Here we bundled out and took our farewell of a railway 
with scheduled times and ordinary trains. Henceforth we 
must be at the mercy of our engine-driver, of agents 
stationed at lonely spots on the way, and also of gangs of 
Chinese coolies completing or repairing the line. An hour 
later a train drew up at the station, consisting of a number 
of trucks laden with merchandise and Chinese ; five horse 
brakes, in one of which was a military doctor camping out 
and other officers lying around on shelves and boxes ; and 
one Russian fourth-class carriage, labelled third-class here, 
into which we fought our way. My gun, bows and arrows, 
and spears, Gilyak and Orochon clothing and other articles 
for the musems I wished further ; and even bedding, which 
ought to have proved useful, could not be utilized for want 
of space. The carriage was about half the length of an 
ordinary English carriage, arranged but not divided into 
two compartments, giving seating room on the bare benches 
for about fifteen. As we had a varying number from 



ACROSS MANCHURIA 415 

eighteen to twenty-four, and baggage occupied considerable 
space, the passengers were accommodated with some diffi- 
culty. My merchant friend and myself managed to occupy 
seats, or rather to squat upon the top of our baggage on 
the seats, while one man slept on our bundles between the 
benches, and others were huddled up or scattered about 
upon the floor. In vain we tried to sleep. It is astonishing 
how inconvenient it is to possess a head under such circum- 
stances. It drops to the right or left or to the front just as 
you are dozing off, and forces you to rouse up and pull 
yourself together again, and then you begin the same per- 
formance, to repeat it a dozen times ; to say nothing of 
other peoples' falling upon your shoulders. If only one 
could have unscrewed it, and put it in the rack, the 
difficulty would have been solved. As it was, I cast 
envious looks upon the snoring forms upon the floor, and a 
man and woman who had taken refuge in the racks. The 
next night was passed in a similar manner, save that one 
more seat was available, through the desertion of a 
passenger who preferred a shelf in a horse-box to a seat in 
our carriage ; but the prospect of this kind of " bed " 
continuing indefinitely was not attractive. The nights 
were frosty, and we mildly wondered how the Chinese, who 
were crowded together on trucks, managed to endure the 
exposure to the night cold. 

The country at first presented a succession of rolling 
hills of no great height, their sides shorn of the forests by 
fire and axe ; but as we neared Kharbin the valleys narrowed, 
and torrent streams, which had cleaved their way through 
little ravines, were now silent under the hands of King 
Frost In the early stages of the journey brick-built stations 
were passed, but later on a few log-huts lying off the line did 
duty. The rail was laid mostly in the valley-beds, but on 
this section, which has been worked for nearly a year, a per- 
manent way was already being constructed on a higher level, 
and when this and the tunnels are completed the steepest 



416 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

gradient, which was then i in 57, will be reduced to 1 in 100. 
Between Vladivostok and Kharbin there was no serious 
difficulty in obtaining food. When the regulation station 
buffets disappeared, an aubergiste was to be found catering 
in rough-and-ready fashion in a hut, among the collection 
that had grown up around a centre of railway construction. 
It was true that the hut had to be found, and was generally 
a quarter of a mile from the station, and that there was 
always a doubt as to when the train would start ; but on the 
whole meals were to be had though at irregular intervals. 
At most of the merely wayside stations peasants or Chinese 
appeared, to sell boiled eggs, black bread, and bottles of 
milk. At a spot where the most serious accident had 
occurred, where we negotiated several zigzags, with their 
reversing stations, a tunnel was being constructed to obviate 
the delay and danger of these. This is just before Duzinza 
station, and more than halfway to Kharbin (333 miles from 
Vladivostok). It is to measure about 330 yards, and was 
being engineered by a Hungarian, with whom I travelled, 
who had under him gangs of Italian workmen. The 
distance from Vladivostok to Kharbin is 491 miles, and 
this was performed in seventy hours, a speed of seven 
miles an hour ; but we had stopped one night for eight 
hours, since the line was not sufficiently safe to pro- 
ceed in the darkness, and deducting other stoppages, we 
had averaged about nine and a half miles per hour while 
going. 

Kharbin was reached at seven in the morning of the 
fourth day. No station had yet been built, and we 
descended just where the train had stopped, though nobody 
else appeared to be getting out. Opening a window I 
pitched the baggage out to the merchant standing below, 
and finding a couple of Chinamen, with a team, we 
chartered them to transport our baggage to the hotel. The 
Chinamen's atelage was distinctly novel, the cart resembling 
certain brewers' vehicles that have a ladder-like frame on 



ACROSS MANCHURIA 417 

two wheels, and in the shafts was a Mongolian pony, and 
in the front of it three abreast. Later on I saw other 
" tandems " with seven horses, three in front followed by- 
three and one in the shafts. My " employer," who had 
exacted nothing more in the shape of services than con- 
versation, knowing the ropes, led us to a long, dingy- 
looking, wooden building, which he announced to be the 
hotel. After trying by all known methods of knocking to 
arouse the inmates, we took our way round to the back, 
where we succeeded in gaining entrance to the yard, in the 
middle of which was a big kennel and a bear tied up by a 
rope. Further efforts on our part were rewarded by the 
appearance of a factotum, disturbed from his slumbers, who 
announced that the " hotel " was full. Notwithstanding 
this discouraging statement, he managed to find us a room, 
the like of which, however, I do not wish to inhabit again. 
It was filthy, and without further accommodation than a bed- 
stead with a mattress, the broken springs of which were 
poking through the dirty covering ; and one or two chairs. 
It was as well that we were expected to supply our own 
bedding. A second bed they declared was not to be had, 
but before evening a couch, which was also suffering from 
broken " ribs," was begged, borrowed, or stolen. Washing 
was regarded as a luxury, and a basin of water, or I should 
say the basin, was brought only on ringing for it, and taken 
away before one had finished, for some one else's use. In 
the room in which we ate our meals was one of those showy- 
looking automatic musical instruments — the name of which 
I do not know, nor do I wish to — made in Germany. Never- 
theless, I was indebted to it for the curious sensation of 
hearing selections from the " Mikado " and the " Washing- 
ton Post " in the heart of Manchuria. 

Kharbin is practically a Russian creation ; the older 
place lies about four and a half miles from New Kharbin, 
on the river Sungari, after which it is called. New Kharbin, 
where I was staying, was an uninteresting collection of 

2 E 



418 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

barrack-looking buildings of one story, built of brick and 
thatch. The Russian portion of Old Kharbin, which lies 
between New Kharbin and Sungari, presents the appearance 
of a new building estate, and if any doubt exists in the 
mind of any one as to the intentions of the Russians in 
Manchuria, it would be dispelled at once on a visit to Old 
Kharbin. Outside of Vladivostok it is an exception in 
Siberia to come across many buildings of brick or stone, 
and even in Irkutsk, the so-called Paris of Siberia, seven- 
eighths of the erections are of wood. These solid red-brick 
buildings of Kharbin, the detached houses of the officials, 
and the many public erections, had a special significance in 
view of Russia's repeated promises to evacuate Manchuria. 

Kharbin lies on a plain, and, notwithstanding that it 
was only November 10, and we were wrapped in furs, we 
suffered much from the cold in driving to Sungari. The 
wind was terribly bitter, and our izvostchik, with his collar 
turned up over his ears, sat sideways on his perch. Out-of- 
door cafe resorts, however, looking very brown and tawdry 
now, testified to the equally great heat of summer. Sungari 
itself we found to be quite the business city. In summer 
there is, and — notwithstanding the construction of the rail- 
way — should be in future, considerable traffic on the river. 
The fleet of the Sungari Steam Shipping Company had 
played an important role during the outbreak of Chinese in 
Manchuria the year before. Prince M. Khilkov, who had 
been stationed here for four years, said that their settlement 
had had a very narrow escape. I give the story as he told 
it me. The reports of the campaign in Manchuria were so 
exaggerated that it was impossible to know whom to 
believe, but this much is true, that the repression of the 
rising was not attended in the south and centre with the 
atrocities committed in the north. 

When the alarm was given Russian settlers, railway 
workmen, and their families, had fled in all directions, but 
mainly to Kharbin, where they had been put on board 



ACROSS MANCHURIA 419 

the Sungari steamers and taken to Khabarovsk. On 
July 2, 1900, the Chinese troops appeared before Kharbin. 
Fortunately for the defenders, the last two or three 
days of their march had been rainy, and their guns had 
lagged behind. This caused two or three days' delay, 
and when they arrived the omens were discovered to be 
unfavourable, and again several days elapsed before the 
auspicious day came round. The delay was precious to the 
Russians, who, on July 2, had but sixty rifles, and 
enabled them by the 13th, when the attack commenced, 
to reckon on no less than 6000. A successful sortie was 
made, in which three of the Chinese Krupp guns were 
captured and turned on them ; thus any immediate danger 
was averted, although twenty-five days elapsed before 
communications could be established with the outer world. 

I had gone to Prince Khilkov, who is the nephew 
of the Minister of Public Works and Railways, to 
openly ask for a pass through, to Siberia. My merchant 
" employer " was going no further, and, as I was nearly 
halfway through Manchuria, I guessed the authorities 
would be comparatively indifferent as to whether they sent 
me forward or back, since the fact that I had already 
crossed the frontier relieved them of much responsibility. 
Perhaps it was fortunate that Colonel Ugovich, the con- 
trolling engineer, commonly known as the " King of 
Manchuria," was engaged with the Governor-general in 
touring the country. At any rate, after some hesitation, 
and at the end of three interviews with the prince, who 
was acting as secretary to Colonel Ugovich, he politely 
handed me a pass, wrote upon it the usual courteous request 
to officials to assist me, and gave me a letter to the super- 
intendent at what was called Sungari station. Thirty-six 
hours after our arrival at Kharbin I was ready to start on 
the remainder of the journey through Manchuria, a distance 
of 580^ miles. 

I now regretfully took leave of my merchant friend. He 



420 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

was anything but well ; we had both caught severe chills 
before setting out from Vladivostok, and the cold, the 
exposure, want of sleep, and precarious meals, had so 
affected him that he went back to Vladivostok to be confined 
to his room for two or three months. 

From this point I had not estimated the difficulties that 
lay before me, although I did not expect simply to order a 
cab, drive to the station, purchase a ticket, and appropriate 
a comfortable coupe. The first problem was to find the station, 
or the site of the potential station. The train, I was informed, 
would start, not from the spot at which I had left it, but about 
six or seven miles further on, over on the other side of the 
Sungari river. It was said to be leaving about nine o'clock 
that night. When I ultimately reached it, I learnt that it was 
the same train that I had come by, plus another from Port 
Arthur, and that it had conveniently, though not intention- 
ally, awaited my departure. I had engaged two izvostckiki, 
the proletka in front containing all my baggage, and the 
latter my own person. It had been carefully explained to 
them where I wanted to go, and they had made profuse 
assurances that they grasped the situation ; but I might 
have known what was coming, for it is common experience 
all over the eastern world. We had gone but three-quarters 
of the way, across a wide, sweeping, empty plain, when 
they pulled up. Now they were ex-convicts, and I knew 
that I had to take a firm attitude, so I scolded them for 
having said they knew exactly where I wanted to go, and 
yet now, having come thus far, asked, "Where does the 
barin wish to go ? " I repeated that I was bound for the 
Sungari railway-station, on the other side of the river, where 
I wished to see Mr. Svollensky, the nachalnik. They shook 
their heads, talked together, and drove off, whither I knew 
not, except that it was not in the right direction. However, 
to my relief we were going through the town of Sungari, 
and though I was anxious about the time, I felt that at 
least something was going to happen. Suddenly the 



ACROSS MANCHURIA 421 

izvostchiki turned down a lane which led to the river, and 
drew up in front of a large wooden building standing in a 
clump of trees. 

A man was passing on the road, and, hoping to find 
him more intelligent than my drivers, I accosted him and 
explained the situation, whereupon he exonerated them 
from blame, declaring that the bridge did not permit of 
horse traffic, so that the vehicles could not cross to the other 
side of the river. For the moment I was nonplussed. My 
drivers wanted to take me somewhere — I don't know 
where — but seeing that the building, in front of which we 
were, was the office of the Sungari Steam Shipping Com- 
pany, I ventured to make inquiries there. Entering, I 
found, to my surprise, an office lighted by electric light, 
and at least half a dozen clerks busily poring over ledgers. 
Addressing one of the elder ones, I asked, in Russian, " Is 
there anybody here who speaks French, German, or 
English ? " but receiving a reply in the negative, I fell back 
upon what Russian I could command A pleasant-looking, 
rather more important, official entering at the moment, I 
explained that I was bound for Manchuria station, when he 
interrupted me with, " I am also going to Manchuria station ; 
in fact, to St. Petersburg. My drozhky is outside. I am 
starting at once." It was of a piece with all my good 
fortune, for the difficulties of that evening, had I not had 
his guidance, would have only just commenced. We drove 
for a mile or two along the river, climbing over steep 
embankments, up which our horses seemed to go like flies 
on a wall, and then were turned out in the cold on the brink 
of the river at the foot of a still greater embankment. The 
Sungari here is 400 sazheni (2800 feet), or more than half 
a mile wide. As the bridge was not yet safe for trains, 
the passengers had to walk across on the ice. A group of 
jabbering Chinese coolies gathered round us, whom my new 
acquaintance engaged to take his baggage, leaving me with 
the promise to return. It had been dark for two or three 



422 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

hours, and, left alone, my izvostchiki thought it an excellent 
opportunity to dun me, but I was not to be drawn, and told 
them they would be paid later. Eventually I gave them 
half as much again as their correct fare, but of course they 
were dissatisfied, and one grasped me by the shoulder ; but, 
laying my hand on my revolver, I warned him to stand off. 
What we were going to do, or where going, I did not then 
know. I was in the hands of my new companion, and I must 
trust to him to get me through. 

Tramping off in the wake of the coolies, I found myself 
on the top of the embankment, with a group of soldiers. 
It was bitterly cold, the stars shone out clearly, and the 
frozen river lay silent below. We muffled ourselves in 
furs, and stamped our feet until, twenty minutes having 
elapsed, word was given to march. It appeared that we 
were allowed to defile over the bridge, my companion 
being a person of sufficient authority to get us by the 
challenging sentries. It was a long cavalcade, in single 
file, including all the coolies. Once an engine came along, 
and we flattened ourselves against the rail. For two miles, 
tumbling over stones and sleepers, we marched, the head of 
our party continually calling " Skoro " (" Quickly ") to hurry 
up the coolies. At length we came to a long train of trucks 
standing in what appeared in the dark to be a siding, 
with two or three baggage waggons, one third-class carriage, 
and a service waggon, all occupied. Mr. Svollensky was not 
there, and half an hour elapsed before we could find any 
place ; and it ended in my being thrust into an already full 
third-class carriage. It was an awkward moment ; I was 
a perfect stranger among Russians, and they resented my 
intrusion, and looked not unnaturally with displeasure at my 
baggage, which was now blocking the way, and preventing 
the door from shutting. Fortunately, there was a sailor 
or two among the score of persons who already crowded 
the carriage, and, of whatever nationality, they are always 
jolly, good-natured individuals. One or two of my packages 



ACROSS MANCHURIA 423 

were stowed under the seat, and the others afterwards came 
in handy for those who propped themselves upon the floor. 
I did not dream then that this was to be my home for the 
best part of a fortnight. The first night was spent as usual, 
in sitting upon a bare bench, trying to sleep, and as far as 
ever from solving the problem as to what to do with one's 
head. Three or four women were in the carriage, and I 
unwittingly brought down their ire upon me, for in the 
intervals between the shutting and the opening of the 
door, a passenger next to me had been comparing the dis- 
comforts of a seat on the bench with a sprawl on the floor, 
and I had taken the opportunities of his temporary with- 
drawals from the bench to put my feet there and half 
recline. I was soon roused by " Englishman ! English- 
man ! you are taking up all the space," from the women 
who were lying across the bench and boxes between. My 
neighbour, however, was not long in deciding on the superior 
merits of the bench, where he was, at least, undisturbed ; 
and the night dragged out in weary fashion. Two officers 
chose to sleep in the racks, which they found so comfortable, 
that they retained them until the end of our journey ; but, 
considering the crowded state of the carriage, that we lived 
in it day and night, and that no ventilation was possible, 
except through the occasional opening of the door, I can 
only marvel that they did not die of suffocation. Four 
little double windows, like those in a gipsy cart, caulked 
and seamed against the winter's cold, gave us light ; and 
we were fortunate in the possession of a tiny little stove in 
the far corner of the carriage, for although nothing could 
be cooked on it, it saved us from extreme cold. 

From Kharbin to Tsitsikar, a distance of 168 miles, the 
line crosses the steppe and trenches on north-eastern Mon- 
golia. Twice it crosses the boundary-line, and covers about 
fifty miles within that territory.* 

* Mr. Hosie, our latest authority on Manchuria, gives the western 
boundary of Hey-lung-kiang, where it borders upon Mongolia, as 



424 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

How can I adequately describe the limitless steppe — 
its unbroken level, its treeless waste, its sandy floor, scarce 
relieved by the scattered blades of coarse grass ? For 
miles, for 50 miles, for 100 miles, and even for 150 miles, 
the same monotonous view unfolded itself. 

How the traveller's eye is arrested by any moving 
object, and what a relief it is to the monotonous emptiness 
of the plain ! It may be a troop of long-haired Bactrian 
camels, or a Mongol, seated high on his diminutive pony, 
coursing like the wind, the animal's mane and long tail 
streaming in the air ; or again, it is a caravan of little 
covered carts, springless, and with solid wheels studded 
with nails, so familiar a sight to the residents of Peking. 

But how dry and clear was the air ; what glorious sun- 
sets and starlight nights met the gaze of the tent-dweller 
of these regions ! 

Across the great steppe the train found it easy going, and 
the 168 miles, from Kharbin to Tsitsikar, were covered at 
the rate of six miles, or, deducting stoppages, eight miles an 
hour. It was as if we were on a calm tropical sea, save 
that the horizon was near, since we were low down. Near- 
ing Tsitsikar, I saw for the first time three trees, and in 
a little while the plain assumed a rolling aspect with hills 
twenty feet in height. Wandering from the line to look 
closer at these mounds, I found tiny frozen meres at their 
bases. At a spot about eight miles east of the river Nonni, 
and sixteen miles from Tsitsikar — for the line leaves the 

following the right bank of the Nonni river, from its junction with the 
Choi to its confluence with the Sungari. If this were so, the line 
would confine itself to Manchuria. I differ with diffidence from such 
an authority, but the view adopted in the text is borne out by several 
Russian maps of recent date. That the Russians would like to stretch 
the boundary as far south as the Nonni river, as described by Mr 
Hosie, I have no doubt ; unless, indeed, their position in Mongolia be 
already similar to that in Manchuria five years ago, in which case they 
will be indifferent to the details of a frontier, which will in time 
become the boundary of a province. 



i 



ACROSS MANCHURIA 425 

walled Manchu city and capital of Heh-lung-kiang that 
distance away — was a typical station ; that is to say, 
it was a spot where fuel was stacked, and a water-tower 
stood. It was midnight, and surmising from the fact of 
the train stopping that this was a potential station, 
though it was quite on the cards that the engine-driver 
had stopped merely at his own sweet will, I went in 
search of something to eat. Muffling myself in furs, I 
dropped on to the line, and, stumbling over wires and 
sleepers, made in the direction of a dimly lighted hut, 
three or four hundred yards from the railroad. A plank 
or two for seats, a couch of boxes, with a shuba over 
them, a rough counter with a small stock of tinned goods, 
vodka, etc., made up the inventory of the hut. The usual 
shtchi soup was forthcoming, and the welcome tumbler 
of tea. We hurried over our repast, and kept a look-out 
on the train, lest it should move off without us, but if we 
had known, we might have spared ourselves any anxiety 
on that score, for the train made a lengthy stay. The 
station-master, a few Kazaks and Chinese were helping to 
unload timber and winter stores, and at eight o'clock the 
next morning two officers rode up in haste from Tsitsikar 
to catch the train ; they were certainly in time, for it did 
not leave for another twenty-four hours. 

This long stop allowed us the opportunity of wandering 
from the line, though it was never safe to stray far lest 
the train should incontinently depart. On the western side 
I found two forts flying the Russian flag. They consisted 
of walled compounds, with rude bastions at each corner, 
one of them enclosing a modest gymnasium. Kazaks were 
stationed here, though not in great force. 

The soil is not, as might be expected, of a loose sand, 
but of a very friable sandstone, which falls to pieces at a 
kick. It is very saliferous, and from it soda is extracted, 
made up in the form of bricks, and sent into China. The 
semi-sandy subsoil was being quarried by a party of 



426 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

Chinese coolies in railway employ, who were making lightly 
baked bricks for the station buildings. It was the hour of 
the midday meal, and they were gathered in groups round 
the welcome fires, some stewing onions, and others rolling 
dough with the dirtiest of hands. 

The railroad itself had been hurriedly laid. But when 
this excuse is made, .that is all that can be said for the 
responsible authorities. It was incredibly bad, the result 
of the extraordinary defalcations in connexion with its 
construction ; indeed, it is believed that the so-called 
Chinese danger in Manchuria, during the year 1900, was 
largely manufactured in order to prevent a commission 
of inquiry from headquarters. The line had been laid in 
many places at the base of valleys, and will have to be 
shifted to a safe elevation above the flood area. Ballasting 
was noticeably absent ; sleepers were sections of pine- 
trunks, rounded edge uppermost, with the bark still 
adhering, and, instead of being parallel to each other, lay 
at all manner of angles. I pointed this out to an official, 
and he shrugged his shoulders, replying, "What does it 
matter ? " 

I tried walking upon the sleepers on many occasions, 
and I found the intervals most irregular. A stride of four 
feet would be followed by one of six inches, and I did 
not wonder, after that, at the joltings we experienced in 
transit. 

The light rails were merely pinned to the sleepers, 
which, in their turn, were not bedded, for I found them 
literally rock under my feet as I walked on them. The 
effect of a heavy Baldwin locomotive, weighing seventy to 
eighty tons, passing over rails of twenty pounds to the 
foot, can be imagined. Under such treatment they became 
as ribbons, and, without any exaggeration, wriggled both 
vertically and horizontally. Was there any wonder that 
our rate of progress was so slow ? Our long construction- 
train, viewed from a distance, appeared like a modified 



ACROSS MANCHURIA 427 

switchback. Accidents were of common occurrence, but 
we had to thank a prudent driver for nothing worse than 
derailment. Even on the best-laid part of the line, between 
Vladivostok and Kharbin, the gaping and yawning of the 
carriages had disturbed our attempts at slumber, and this 
was as nothing compared to my experience between 
Kharbin and the Siberian frontier. 



CHAPTER XXII 
MANCHURIA TO CHITA 

The river Nonni— Overtaking the train — A Chinese village— The 
Khingans — A two and a half days' stop— Six thousand miles 
of snow — Curious dwellings — Manchuria station — Tickets obtained 
under difficulties — Struggles at buffets — Chita. 

THE next morning a start was made from the 
potential station of Tsitsikar towards the great 
river Nonni, eight miles further on. A few solitary- 
trees stood out here and there, making the monotony of 
the steppe more noticeable, but beyond the river one knew 
that the scenery must change, as we approached the Great 
Khingan or Hsinghan mountains. The Nonni is a tributary 
of the Sungari, and is the only great river which flows 
through the province of Heh-lung-kiang. It is navigable 
as far as Tsitsikar, and for light junks beyond even to 
Mergen. At the point where the line crosses, it is exactly 
half a mile in width. The great iron bridge, designed in 
Russia and made in America, was then in course of con- 
struction, and as the temporary wooden structure did not 
allow of our engine crossing, the trucks and horse-boxes had 
to be pushed over by large numbers of Chinese workmen. 
While this operation was in contemplation, and it took 
several hours to bring it about, we, passengers, traversed 
the structure on foot to the western bank of the river, 
where I found the Russian town of New Tsitsikar spring- 
ing up. Having obtained a midday meal at a rough sort 

428 




THE AUTHOR. 



[To face page 429. 



MANCHURIA TO CHITA 429 

of restaurant, I joined some officers, their wives, and other 
passengers congregated at the western end of the bridge, 
where we waited two or three hours for the arrival of the 
train, pushed by its human motors. It was bitterly cold ; 
the great river was frozen across, and peasants were about 
on the ice. One was hauling wood, and a solitary woman 
had made a hole in the ice, and was rinsing clothes — a 
terribly cold process, for they froze as she slung them over 
her shoulder. A small crowd of Chinese coolies, clothed 
in wadded cotton garments, gathered round me, and, 
with childish curiosity, began to feel my fur coat. They 
had never seen anything like it before, and asked me, 
" Ckto eto takoy?" ("What is it?") " Malenkiy aleni" 
(" Young (rein)deer (skin) "), I replied. Then, without the 
least hesitation — the Chinese and even the Russians put the 
most direct questions — they asked, " Skolko stditt " (" How 
much is it worth ? ") I gave them a moderate figure, but 
they frankly disbelieved me, and thought it a great joke. 

Late in the afternoon a fresh start was made, but only 
a few versts were covered before the train pulled up again. 
Its movements were so erratic that we could only make 
guesses as to what was going to happen in the near future ; 
sometimes it went backwards for considerable distances, 
but, on the whole, the forward movement prevailed, and 
we eventually reached our destination, covering 5 80 J miles 
from Kharbin in ten days and a quarter ! From this time 
onward it became difficult to get food and drink ; and 
as shunting operations at this spot seemed likely to occupy 
us, for at least a few minutes, I ran across to a distant 
hut to obtain black bread and a kettle of water. In the 
back room was a stove, and the opportunity of boiling 
my kettle was not to be missed. A careful look-out had 
meanwhile to be kept, lest the train should move off, and, 
as it was, I had scarcely emerged from the hut when 
the rattle of the trucks announced a start. Fortunately, 
the speed was at no time very great, and running, with 



430 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

loaf in one hand and kettle in the other, I managed 
to overtake it ; a friendly hand was reached down to seize 
my kettle, the loaf was thrown on board, and I leapt 
safely up. 

Among our passengers in the carriage were a military 
captain and doctor, the former of whom had a Kazak 
orderly in attendance. This last sat opposite to me, and 
I found him useful, since he could forage better than I, and 
for an occasional tip would relieve me of the washing-up, 
after the primitive meals made in the carriage. But on 
leaving Tsitsikar he was missed ; two or three hours had 
passed, and we began to think that he had been left behind, 
when he suddenly turned up, intoxicated. He told an 
incoherent story, and, pulling out a pocket-book, flourished a 
roll of ruble notes, exclaiming, " Slava Bogu ! Slava Bogu! " 
(" Thank God ! Thank God ! ") This put a new face on 
matters, and the captain, who knew that he had not had 
these in his possession before, turned to me, since I slept 
near him, to ask if he had robbed me. The difficulties of 
obtaining money in Siberia had dictated my carrying more 
than I cared in this rough journey, and I had about 650 
rubles in my pocket-book, but, on examining it, I found 
them intact. The orderly must have come by them at 
Tsitsikar. The captain severely scolded him, and the great 
hulking fellow fell down on his knees in the most abject 
manner, weeping copiously, and crying, " PazhaVsta ! Paz- 
haVsta ! " (" Please ! Please ! ") In spite of his entreaties 
to be forgiven he was dismissed to the horse-boxes, and 
we were, for the time being, without his services. That 
evening the train covered the quite extraordinary dis- 
tance of about thirty-five miles, and then stopped for the 
night. 

We had already caught a glimpse of low hills on the 
horizon, the spurs of the Great Khingan range. The 
scenery was changing ; the steppe, with its scanty coarse 
grass, where the Mongols find grazing ground for their 



MANCHURIA TO CHITA 431 

troops of ponies and herds of sheep, was giving way to 
wide, open valleys, sheltered by low hills. In these vales 
the soil is comparatively rich, and Chinese immigrants have 
been pouring in of late years to till them. The chief 
cereals grown are millet {Sorghum vulgar e), but oats, wheat, 
barley, and buckwheat {Polygonum fagopyrum) are culti- 
vated, and all are spring-sown. The winter is extreme, 
but the summer, though short, is hot, and ripens the crops 
quickly. Very rarely didT see any sign of cultivation along 
the route, and, even before the snow-clad regions were 
reached, the rough, neglected arable land was scarcely to 
be distinguished from the virgin soil. 

The next morning found us in one of these open 
valleys. The hills were covered with larch, spruce, and 
birch, though somewhat thinned by railway demands for 
sleepers and fuel ; and in the course of a short climb, to 
obtain a view of this entrance into the Khingans, I saw a 
few hazel grouse {Tetrao bonasid). 

At the end of a nineteen hours' stop, it was announced 
that we should not leave for another twenty-four ; and, 
interpreting this to allow me, with safety, a two hours' 
absence, I ventured to take a constitutional. Making my 
way to the little colony of Russian log-houses, I secured a 
midday meal, and then sauntered in a southerly direction 
to a Manchu, or rather, Chinese village. In the wide 
street were groups of Chinese peasants, and as I approached 
there were signs of a disturbance, promptly quelled, how- 
ever, by a Chinaman in gorgeous attire, with blue wadded 
gaiters, and black velvet high boots, who rode up, mounted 
on a sturdy Mongol pony. On stalls a medley of goods 
was exposed for sale, including fur-lined Manchu hats, 
gloves, boots, and wadded clothing, bricks of tea, and that 
favourite delicacy, roast pork. The thatched houses, built 
of mud, with chimneys on the ground, connected by tunnels, 
were, externally, much neater than the Russian abodes. 
Each stood in its yard, fenced by a paling of long twigs. 



432 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

Just off the street was a tiny Chinese temple in process 
of completion. I was surprised at the skill displayed, both 
in its structure and in the blending of the various colours 
used in its decoration. What amused me, and perhaps 
reflected the servile attitude of the Chinese here towards 
the Russians, were two small paintings on the pediment. 
They represented a street in a Russian town. The parallel 
lines of houses approached each other in the distance with 
exaggerated perspective. Each house was of a different 
colour, white, blue, red, or green, and if only they had had 
wheels under them, one would have taken the two rows 
for trains, consisting of first, second, third, and fourth class 
carriages, especially since one house in the foreground 
possessed a queer-looking iron funnel, evidently meant for 
a stove-flue. Between the lines of houses stretched the 
broad, snow-covered street, down which a troika was 
speeding ; but, most significant of all to appear on a 
Chinese temple, was the picture of a Russian church, with 
its unmistakable bulbous spire. 

On my return to the carriage my fellow-passengers 
were loud in their expressions of astonishment at my 
venturing alone to the Chinese village, and congratulated 
me on returning alive ; such were the notions of the 
Russian " man in the street," fed on official reports, of the 
bellicose attitude of the Chinese in Manchuria. 

Our alarms lest the train should go off without warning 
and strand us in this inhospitable country were not always 
without cause. On my return I found that the train was 
definitely announced to start at noon of the next day, and 
on the strength of this the captain and doctor went to 
enjoy the festivities of an evening "ashore," but the next 
morning at 7 o'clock the train departed, leaving them 
behind. At our next stopping-place, a potential station, 
we heaved their baggage out, trusting to their dropping 
across it in the course of their progress. The rail now 
plunged further into the Khingans, but the route demanded 



MANCHURIA TO CHITA 433 

no very difficult engineering work, since it followed river- 
beds, and only here and there necessitated a small cutting 
out of the side of a hill. The mountains, or rather hills, 
for they did not exceed 2000 feet, were rounded, sparsely 
wooded, and separated by wide valleys. The scenery re- 
minded me of wilder parts of the north island of New 
Zealand. Off the line of route the heights are thickly clad, 
and abound in game, for the Khingans yield the best hunt- 
ing in Manchuria, and are noted as the habitat of the 
tiger, wild boar, bear, lynx, etc., and a goodly number of 
feathered game. 

A damaged section of the railroad delayed us for a few 
hours, and only a few more versts were covered before dark. 
Here the engine-driver slept for the night, and the next 
morning being Sunday, got up late. Life in the railway 
carriage on one day was so like any other, that it came as a 
surprise to us when one of the party discovered that it was 
Sunday. I do not know how many hundred miles off the 
nearest church was, and in any case the train did not pro- 
pose to rest, so failing the orthodox manner of celebrating 
the day, they hit upon the plan of cleaning their boots. 
Where blacking came from I do not know. Life was a 
mere pigging, we slept in our clothes, swaddled in furs or 
sheep-skins, and it was with the greatest difficulty that we 
could get a kettle or two of water for the whole party to 
wash with. The little stove had to be diligently fed with 
scraps and ends of telegraph-poles and sleepers, which we 
picked up on the road. We warmed ourselves, taking it in 
turns chopping these up with the Kazak's sword, until we 
broke it ; for its owner had been received back since his 
captain had been left behind. At noon on the tenth day 
since leaving Vladivostok, we reached the highest point 
on the Manchurian Railway. The line ascends by a series 
of zigzags to the (temporary) station, appropriately called 
" Khingan," attaining an altitude of 1930 feet above sea- 
level, but these zigzags are to be obviated by two tunnels, 

2 F 



434 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

each of rather more than half a mile in length (3 1 50 and 
3010 feet.) 

From this point began the worst part of the journey, 
and the passengers had to suffer long delays, intense cold 
and the absence of any arrangements for food. Descending 
from the summit, the train proceeded for half an hour and 
stopped for the same time, again moving on for half an 
hour it rested for two hours and a quarter, and so on ; 
eventually coming to a standstill at 9 p.m. in an open 
valley high up among the mountains in a snow-storm and 
a howling wind. It is said that the Khingan mountains 
have the unenviable reputation of furnishing the coldest 
spot on their latitude. I can well believe it, for though it 
was yet only November 19, the thermometer registered 
63 of frost (Fahr.). A calm, clear, cold day in Siberia is 
most enjoyable, but when you add to the extreme cold a 
strong wind, and snow, dry as fine powder, driving like 
needles at your face, you will not wonder that we exclaimed 
at our engine-driver for choosing this particular spot in 
which to make a stay of two a half days. The station 
possessed a name, Mendukhey, but not much else. It was 
represented by a log-hut in' course of erection, where we 
were told the railway agent " lived." The two soldiers on 
duty slept in a box outside in this terrible cold. 

To add to our miseries our supply of wood gave out, 
and the morning found us with the stove fireless, and the 
snow driving in between the match-boarding of the 
carriage. Some hardy individuals were washing their 
hands in the snow for want of water. Rumour had it that 
nothing could be obtained here, but, fortunately, by paying 
famine prices we got a little of both bread and water. 
This was the beginning of a stretch of snow-clad country 
extending to Berlin, a distance of more than 6000 miles. 

The first day passed, and our expectations of departing 
remained unfulfilled ; the next day we dared not hope for a 
start, and learning that hot water was to be bought in the 



MANCHURIA TO CHITA 435 

agent's hut, I dashed over, kettle in hand, to take advantage 
of this exceptional opportunity. A woman was retailing 
hot water, but the samovar, being watched, naturally took a 
long time to boil, and there being some movement of 
shunting on the part of the train, I at length demanded of 
an official if the train were starting, to which he replied, 
" Sey chas ! " (" Immediately ! ") Gathering up my fur coat, 
but minus my hot water, I made a dash for the train, 
kettle in hand, for it had already begun to move. Some 
of the horse-boxes had little platforms at the end, and 
climbing on to one of these, I took my stand, congratulating 
myself on not having been left behind, and trusting for a 
later opportunity to join my carriage. The train, however, 
had only proceeded a little way before I saw that it had 
come in two, and the carriage with my fellow-passengers 
in was left behind ; I therefore hastily clambered down 
and leapt off, fortunately not a difficult process at the 
speed at which we were going. 

Early the next morning our portion of the train made 
a start. What a relief it was to be moving, after two and 
a half days at a standstill, even though at the rate of four 
to six miles an hour ! The night had been spent in vainly 
endeavouring to keep warm, though we had slept in furs 
and felt top-boots. Inside, the snow penetrated between 
the boards, outside, the wind whistled relentlessly, driving 
the snow before it in whirling clouds, producing the effect 
of a drifting fog. 

After a few versts the engine stopped to drink, but not 
for the passengers to do so. Two or three forms wrapped 
in furs were seen, in face of the intense cold, trying to find 
wood to warm their waggon. We continued to make 
frequent stops, and stayed until midday at another station 
site, Yashi by name, where there was no buffet. 

Some of the horse-boxes had no stove, and others were 
fireless for want of fuel. Women were crying with the 
cold, and begging to be taken back. The future looked 



436 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

very black. A crust of black bread four days old and a 
lamb's tongue, carefully eked out, alone remained to me. 
By the wayside were the dwellings of some Russian plate- 
layers, and to them I wended my way in search of bread. 
These homes reminded me of the Troglodyte Suh-shen, 
who dwelt here 3000 years ago. I had to descend into 
the " bowels of the earth " to find their inmates ; for the 
ground was hollowed out to a depth of about six to ten 
feet, and a roof of timber, sacks, earth, and snow kept them 
sheltered and warm. To all my inquiries was given the 
same answer ; they had no bread to spare. Matters were 
going from bad to worse ; for even water had to be tapped 
from the locomotive when the driver was not looking. 
Fortune, however, again smiled upon us, for that evening 
the train managed to reach Khailar station, and we had 
the luxury of a good meal in a buffet. 

At about a mile from the station is the Chinese town 
which was taken by the Russians during their Manchurian 
campaign ; and the illustration in the text represents the 
Chinese generals receiving Governor-general Grodekov. 
From here the railroad was in rather better condition, 
having been one of the first sections constructed, and we 
reached Ongun, forty miles distant, the next morning. 
Here we were on a lower level, the wind had subsided, the 
snow-storm ceased, and the sun shone with considerable 
power at midday. Numerous magpies were hopping about 
in the snow, and I counted at one spot twenty-four of these 
winter frequenters of the post-roads of Siberia. 

With the improvement in the line the end came sooner 
than we had expected, and our only delays during the last 
few hours had been to drop occasional lots of telegraph- 
poles. The great hills had been left behind, and the 
scenery had changed to a series of low broken mounds 
scantily covered with Swiss pines. The train continued 
through the night, until at 3 a.m. I was suddenly aroused 
and informed that we had arrived at the terminus of the 



MANCHURIA TO CHITA 437 

Chinese Eastern Railway Company, Manchuria station. 
So long had this carriage been my abode — this was the 
eleventh day and the fifteenth of my connexion with that 
train — that it was almost with a sense of homelessness I 
said my farewells to it, and stepped out on to a wide and 
unfamiliar plain of snow. 

There were yet a dozen miles to cover before the 
Siberian frontier would be crossed, and these were tra- 
versed that same evening. Altogether, it had taken 
exactly fifteen days to cross Manchuria, a distance of 
943J miles, at an average speed of sixty-three miles a day. 
Those of our passengers who had come from Port Arthur 
had spent no less than three weeks in the train. But I 
must hasten to explain that these conditions are com- 
pletely altered to-day, and that the traveller can accomplish 
this part of the journey in less than four days, in the comfort 
of a first-class compartment, with no difficulties as to food 
or heating arrangements. 

The line itself, in its reckless bedding and light rails, 
leaves much to be desired, but the excellent carriage- 
springs save the passenger from the gapings and yawnings 
of benches and partitions that I experienced. I had no 
cause to grumble. Probably with the rest of the pas- 
sengers I was a nuisance to the authorities during the 
completion of the line. I paid nothing for my journey 
over the Chinese Eastern Railway, for no charge was 
allowed to be made until its opening, and I record my 
thanks for the privilege I enjoyed. 

It was a bitter night as I stood outside the carriage and 
realized that the threads of travel had once more to be 
gathered up. The first thing to do was to explore the 
buffet, about a quarter of a mile distant. In the large 
outer room were crowded about 200 muzhiki and third-class 
passengers, through whom I made my way to one labelled 
first-class. This contained a bar and a long dining-table ; 
and by the light of three candles I could see that the 



438 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

floor was covered with baggage and sleeping forms. The 
chairs were also occupied by people in an attitude of 
uncomfortable repose ; on one sat a man with his head in 
his hands ; on another, his wife with her head on his 
knees. A half a dozen were wide awake, and, looking 
round, I asked, " Is there a porter here ? " A jolly- 
faced, elderly woman sitting at the door, amused at such 
a demand, smilingly replied, " No." Such an institution 
as a porter was a thing of the future. I appealed to a 
bystander for advice, but without result ; so going into the 
third-class room offered a ruble to any one who would 
fetch my baggage. This was successful, and, my mis- 
cellaneous chattels being piled up on the floor of the 
buffet, I climbed on top of the pile and tried in vain to 
sleep. 

At an early hour, for all were tired of watching out the 
night, the restaurant-keeper was prevailed upon to boil 
the samovar and make tea. It was still dark outside. The 
occupiers of the mattresses, and those rolled in blankets on 
the bare floor, began to rouse up. They must have become 
accustomed to their conditions by this time, for they 
had been waiting for four days for a train going west. 
There had been a heavy snowfall, and the engine-driver 
had run the train off the line and blocked it. We, new 
arrivals, were very fortunate, for it was announced that the 
train would leave at 5.15 that evening, only fifteen hours 
after our arrival. 

' Only a few days afterwards, a telegram appeared in an 
Irkutsk paper stating that this piece of line had been 
blocked by snowdrifts, and would take 600 men fourteen 
days to clear it. I congratulated myself on having 
escaped a fortnight on the floor of the buffet at Manchuria 
station, although I considerably discounted the news. It 
probably represented the estimate of the official responsible 
for the clearing of the line, who would not be averse from 
receiving the pay of 600 Chinese coolies for fourteen days, 



MANCHURIA TO CHITA 439 

when a quarter of that number had been employed for 
half the time ! 

Outside the buffet all was under snow, and a bitter 
wind swept across the plain, for we were situated, as it 
were, in a vast saucer, with the low distant hills repre- 
senting the edges. A few log-houses, the homes of officials, 
were in course of erection ; but the populous part of this 
new settlement was the Mongol quarter. Snow-covered 
mounds on closer inspection revealed dwellings within. 
Around these were small yards bounded by walls of 
snow, behind which shaggy ponies were sheltering. A 
barrel on wheels, drawn by one of these steeds, and 
attended by a dusky Mongol, clad in felt boots and a 
long sheep-skin-lined dokha, passed to and fro. He was 
hauling water, which was only kept from freezing by 
the jolting, for externally the barrel was hoary with con- 
gealed icicles, like stalactites. Many of my fellow-pas- 
sengers, having learnt by bitter experience, were determined 
not to be caught napping again. They were besieging 
the rude little stores, and laying in a stock of tinned foods, 
rye-bread, etc. We passengers, fresh from a train which 
started indifferently five hours before the reported time 
or two days after, regarded with considerable scepticism 
a time-table which stated that the train for Lake Baikal 
left at 5.15 p.m. It was necessary to ascertain, in the first 
place, what time the railway kept here, whether Vladivo- 
stok time, local, Irkutsk, or St. Petersburg, for between 
the first and the last there is a difference of six hours and 
forty-six minutes. This point settled, the booking-office 
had to be found. Some said it was down the road, but 
it was ultimately located in a certain back room behind the 
third-class waiting-room. 

The next process — ticket issuing — was a serious busi- 
ness, both from the booking-clerk's and the passengers' 
points of view. I had noted that there were but twelve 
first-class seats in the train which was bound for Lake 



440 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

Baikal, and I fully realized the importance of an early- 
application. It was reported that the office would open at 
4 p.m. About I o'clock I repeated my inquiries, and was 
advised to go at once and apply. I found the outer room 
filled with a crowd of surging, struggling, third-class pas- 
sengers, vainly trying to get near the tiny opening. Two or 
three better-dressed persons, wanting second or first class 
tickets, were trying a side-door in a passage, and I followed 
them ; but all were indignantly and angrily refused. Then 
one of my fellow-passengers through Manchuria politely 
offered to get mine as well as his own ticket. I thanked 
him, and seeing by this time that a move had been made for 
the first-class carriage, tipped a waiter to carry my baggage 
to the line, and plant it opposite the carriage. Meanwhile, 
climbing on to the train, I tried to get the conductor to 
allot me a seat ; but he, poor man, besieged from all points, 
was well-nigh beside himself. As I was being refused one 
coupt, which was claimed as reserved, and had placed my 
hand on the handle of the next, a Russian official, with a 
violence and rudeness which the foreigner only experiences 
when the velvet glove is involuntarily withdrawn, seized it, 
and claimed that "this and that and the next were en- 
gaged." At this juncture I appealed to the station-master, 
and he led me into the booking-office. There I saw what 
was going on behind the scenes, and why the distribution 
of tickets was such a lengthy business. The price of each 
was a matter of reference, followed by subtle calculations 
on the abacus, after which there was much writing on the 
paper and its counterfoil before a ticket could be issued. 
Meanwhile, the crowd fought and struggled at the little 
opening. For four hours some of them must have pushed 
and scrimmaged before they obtained their tickets. To 
my surprise, the station-master humbled himself before 
the " great " booking-clerk, and begged a ticket for me, 
a stranger ; and it was full ten minutes before he would 
consider the station-master's request, and only then by 






3 
> 







MANCHURIA TO CHITA 441 

the additional persuasion of placing the exact money before 
him. The first-class being hopelessly full, I had to content 
myself with a second-class ticket, but it was another matter 
to obtain a seat. 

The journey was one of four nights and three days to 
Lake Baikal ; but, fortunately for me, I intended to stop 
at Chita, which would give me only two nights and a day 
in this crowded train, and the chance of getting a less full 
one for the rest of the journey. 

The second-class being also full, there was an alterca- 
tion between the station-master and some officers, but facts 
being too strong for them, the position had to be accepted, 
and room made for all. The difficulty came at night to 
accommodate us all, but it ended in one of the passengers, 
a pleasant, rough, little Siberian tradesman, who told me 
afterwards a good deal of his story, retiring into the rack 
for the night, and a big official stretching himself on the 
boxes and baggage between the seats. 

The frontier was crossed at the end of an hour, and we 
entered again into a country of low rolling hills and frozen 
rivers. The land was neither wooded nor cultivated, but 
grazing ground, and as the train followed up the valleys 
we could see Buriat horsemen tending their sheep and 
camels. A youth was breaking a hole in the frozen surface 
of the river to obtain water, and carrying it up to the dwell- 
ings — little black holes — in the hillside, which looked not 
unlike a rabbit-warren. The snow covering was thin on 
the borders of the steppe region, and the herds were find- 
ing pasture only by pawing at the grass beneath. As we 
advanced into the mountainous region, where the snow-fall 
is greater, the line was wreathed in white. In the cuttings 
it was curious to observe the work of the wind in great 
overhanging ledges, spirals, and odd shapes of snow. King 
Frost had laid his seal on them, and fixed these fantastic 
forms for months, for no thaw would loosen them. 

What a luxury it was to be in a train which continued 



442 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

on the move, with only a few minutes' stop at stated points. 
We were proceeding at a fair speed, at eight and a half 
miles, or, deducting stoppages, eleven miles an hour. The 
distance from Manchuria station to Kitaesky razyeyd 
(Chinese junction) is 340 versts, or 226 miles. Here we 
should join the main Trans-Baikalian line, which runs from 
Stretensk to Lake Baikal. It was still not an easy matter 
to procure proper meals, for though there were buffets at 
certain stations, the train was overcrowded, and the supply 
of food was insufficient. At such times the Russian veneer 
of politeness wore off, and the ordinary English visitor to 
Russia who is impressed with the courtesy and attention he 
receives, would have been completely taken aback. It was 
a fight — officers, military and civil, merchants, and sailors, 
all struggling in the first-class buffet — to get food. If one 
were fortunate enough to order early a stakan chai, then 
somebody laid claim to and seized it. The zakiLska (hors 
cFceuvres) and pirishki (a dough-nut with minced meat 
inside) on the bar rapidly disappeared, and a uniformed 
official would be seen stealing behind the bar into the 
kitchen to take the pasties from the very frying-pan. 
Under such circumstances the foreigner, who had yet to 
learn the particular form of eatables offered for sale in this 
part of Siberia, was severely handicapped. The train moved 
off before half the passengers had secured supplies. The 
lesson, however, was soon learned, and in future I knew how 
to proceed. As the train neared a station I slipped on my 
furs, stationed myself on the foot-board, and on the moment 
of stopping dashed into the buffet and called aloud for 
pirishki and chai. At two or three stations a stay of twenty 
minutes or half an hour, as in India, was intended to allow 
time for a meal, but the supply and accommodation were 
hopelessly inadequate. Here a new plan had to be adopted. 
Penetrating into the kitchen, I pacified the hurried and 
worried women, sat down amid the pots and pans, dirty 
plates and knives, quickly supped a basin of soup, and 
rushed for the train. 



MANCHURIA TO CHITA 443 

After Aga station, about three-quarters of the way along 
this loop-line from the frontier, we wound among low 
mountains, the slopes of which were sparsely covered with 
birch and firs. Several rivers — the Turga, Onon, Aga, and 
Ingoda — all tributaries of the Shilka, were crossed before 
reaching the main line. At the junction we arrived from 
three to four hours late, moved on to Karimskaya, but had 
then to await another six hours for the portion from 
Stretensk, bringing a few passengers and empty arestanti 
(prisoners') carriages. 

It was not yet so cold here as in the Khingan mountains. 
Each station boasted its thermometer, and I noted at 7.20 
a.m. that morning one registering— 19 (R.), or 43 of frost 
(Fahr.). The sun shone brilliantly by day, but not a sign of 
thaw was visible. It was a glorious panorama in the glad 
sunlight, and again by cold moonlight, of endless snow 
unspoiled by foot of man. 

Chita was reached later in the same morning, and here 
I descended to look over the museum. The town is 
picturesquely situated near the confluence of two tributaries, 
the Chita and the Kaidolovka, with the Ingoda. All around 
are noble hills. It has a population of about 12,000, and 
owes its development to the Dekabrists, the exiles of noble 
family, who were arrested on December (Dekdbr) 14, 1825, 
and banished hither. 

A couple of sledges transported me and my baggage to 
a hostelry, which announced " furnished apartments." How 
one appreciated the luxury of a decent wash and change. 
Even the sight of the steaming samovar was not to be 
compared with the pleasure of taking off one's clothes for 
the first time for a fortnight. Outside, the town looked 
drear and cold to a stranger. Not a soul in the place spoke 
English, but, making my way to the director of the museum, 
I was kindly rendered all assistance in an inspection of the 
excellent ethnological and natural history collection. 

I was often astonished at the want of observation 



444 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

and intelligent interest shown by the Russian official in the 
things about him. Questions about agriculture, manufacture, 
distances, altitude, etc., were either answered by a " Ne 
znayu" ("I don't know"), or by a ridiculously false statement. 
The comparatively recent development of towns in Russia, 
and consequently the fewer opportunities he has of rubbing 
shoulders intellectually with others, would seem partly to 
account for his inferiority to his German and English 
brother. If I gave up expecting to get information of this 
sort, at least I hoped to learn from officials something about 
matters of which they claimed to be the public repository. 
On this occasion I visited the Russo-Chinese Bank, to make 
a few inquiries, and they politely offered to save me the drive 
to the station by telephoning. Having been a wanderer 
in the Orient and Southern hemisphere since I had left 
Europe, more than a year before, I had not the latest 
information as to the days of departure of the train de luxe 
from Irkutsk for Moscow. This was the substance of the 
question which was put to the station-master. " Ne znayu " 
was the answer. I suggested that he might have a time- 
table for me to purchase, or a time-sheet to which he could 
refer. " Nyet " (" No "). There was nothing to do but to 
proceed at once, lest I should miss the express, which ran, 
I believed, thrice a week ; but it was as if the station-master 
at Inverness did not know, and had no time-table to tell 
him, when the Scotch express left Edinburgh for London. 

From Chita I continued my journey towards Lake 
Baikal, after the necessary preliminary inquiry as to what 
time the 9.13 a.m. train would start. The train contained 
no detachment from Manchuria, only passengers from 
Stretensk and intermediate places. The visits to station 
buffets were therefore attended with greater success and 
comfort. The first-class coupt, which I shared with a 
merchant, was quite comfortable, but at dusk an incident in 
its illumination reminded me of earlier experiences. The 
conductor came round and inserted in a glass frame, giving 



MANCHURIA TO CHITA 445 

both on to the corridor and into our coupe, a piece of tallow- 
candle, lighted it, and then locked it up lest it should be 
stolen ! The result in candle-power was about as poor as 
the electric lighting of the train de luxe from Irkutsk is 
good. 

The country between Chita and Lake Baikal is exceed- 
ingly mountainous, the railway following a sinuous or 
zigzag course, and keeping to river valleys. The famous 
Yablonoi range, which extends in a north-easterly direction 
from Mongolia to the Yakutsk oblast, is here crossed, and 
the highest elevation (3137 feet) of the railroad attained 
beyond Yablonovaya station, nearly fifty miles from Chita. 
Following the river Khilok, for 200 miles in a west-south- 
westerly direction, the line trends north-westerly for nearly 
seventy miles, and then returns to a west-south-westerly 
course for twenty-one miles to Verkhne Udinsk. It is the 
mountainous nature of Trans-Baikalia that compels this 
devious course. 

At Verkhne Udinsk the traveller will descend, if he is 
interested in the Buriats, to visit that very interesting 
Mongol people and their chief monastery. 



CHAPTER XXIII 
TRANS-BAIKALIA TO MOSCOW 

The Buriats — Nomads — Lamas — Gelung Nor Lamaserai — A " living 
god" — Mystery play — English missionaries — Lake Baikal — 
Irkutsk — Pictures en route — Boundary of two continents — The 
Ural mountains — Isolation of villages. 

OCCASIONALLY, at one of the wayside restaur- 
ants, I had met members of the Buriat tribe, and 
observed the Russian soldier or peasant regard- 
ing them, like most ignorant people the world over, as a 
legitimate field of curiosity, or a species of joke. When, 
however, as I stood guarding my baggage in the buffet at 
Manchuria station, the door opened, and a fine, tall figure, 
dressed in a handsome, claret-coloured, fur-lined robe and 
girdle, a crimson silk Chinese close-fitting hat, and long 
scarlet silk tassel, stepped in, I asked myself, " Could this 
indeed be a Buriat ? " He seemed out of place here 
amongst us travel-stained voyagers. The House of Lords, 
on the day of its opening by the king in person, was the 
fitting place for him. That he should be a member of a 
nomad tribe seemed scarcely credible. Yet it was so, and 
there are many such as he rich in flocks and herds. 

This tribe, which has been estimated to number at 
least 200,000, has its habitat on the south-eastern side of 
Lake Baikal, chiefly around Selenginsk, but is scattered 
as far east as Nerchensk, and to the north around Barguzin. 
Like the Iceni of Norfolk, they are a horse-breeding people, 
though their herds of camels, cattle, and sheep are by 

446 



3 




TRANS-BAIKALIA TO MOSCOW 447 

no means insignificant. Living in portable felt tents, or 
yurti, as the Russians call them, they are ever on the 
move, roaming at large with their flocks and herds over 
the vast steppe. 

In the winter, when terribly cold and boisterous winds 
sweep across the steppe, and the scant vegetation is dried 
up, shelter is sought in the near hills. Then it is with 
reluctance that they betake themselves to the " closeness " 
of the valleys, where the hills hem them in ; but, with the 
return of spring, comes the longing fulfilled for the freedom 
of the far-reaching steppe, and the race, for the mere fun 
of it, over the boundless expanse. Where else, but in this 
dry, clear air of the almost rainless steppe, seated at the 
tent-door, can one gaze on such glorious sunsets, or 
watch the luminous stars steal out, one by one, like pen- 
dants in the atmosphere, and not mere apertures in an 
opaque hemisphere ? 

Like many another Mongol tribe, their early history 
is at present unknown to us. That they were Shamanists, 
believers in witchcraft and sorcery, is certain ; and that 
Buddhist missionaries from Urga, in 1676, began a suc- 
cessful work of conversion, is also known. Only a few 
thousand adhere to the old superstitions, though the 
Lamaism, which the majority profess, has incorporated a 
number of the superstitious practices of the older religion, 
and merely re-labelled them. 

The illustration shows a Buriat home. The structure 
is generally about ten feet in height, and fifteen feet in 
diameter, and consists of laths, forming a lattice-work 
below, covered with thick felts, manufactured from the 
produce of their own herds. On entering the three-foot 
door the visitor finds strips of felt, or, if the owner be 
well-to-do, rich mats, spread on the ground and hung 
round the walls. A great trunk, handsomely arabesqued, 
and containing all the holiday attire of the family, in- 
cluding the silver ornaments, charm-boxes, etc., stands 



443 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

against the wall. Near by is the altar, with its burkhans, 
or statuettes of Buddhistic saints, prayer-wheels, altar vases, 
and bell. 

The fire is made, in this woodless country, as in parts 
of India, with cakes of dung (argols), and over it hangs the 
pot of boiling water, into which is thrown brick-tea, mutton- 
fat, salt, millet, and milk for the meal. The occupants of 
the tent are arrayed, for their everyday duties, in rough 
garb. The men wear long, full ulsters of tapu (Chinese 
cloth), held up by a girdle, from which hang tobacco-pouch, 
pipe, and tinder-box ; and Chinese top-boots. On festive 
occasions the well-to-do dress themselves in richly figured 
silks, trimmed with velvet. The women ordinarily wear 
a short jacket over a tunic of coarse stuff, but on high 
days and holidays these are exchanged for richly coloured 
stuffs, beautifully embroidered ; and their persons are decked 
out, as in the illustration, with bracelets, silver charms, 
ear-rings, and beads woven into their two pigtails. 

The boys are taught by the lamas, and it is as much 
the ambition of the Buriat parents that their son should 
become a lama, and join the ranks of the educated and 
ruling class, as it is that of the Scotch mother to have 
her son become a " meenister." This tendency prevails to 
such an extent that the Russian Government has had to 
step in and prevent the undue increase of this body, 
which, being unproductive materially, threatens to drain 
the resources of the laity. The term " Lamaism " has been 
given to that ritualistic form of Buddhism which prevails 
in Tibet, Mongolia, and China, while the purer form is 
alone found in Burma and Siam. The studies of a Buriat 
lad under the lamas begin very early, strictly speaking, 
at the age of eight, and last from ten to twelve years. 
Beginning with the Tibetan alphabet, he learns by rote 
proverbs and wise-saws, and gradually enters on his cur- 
riculum of Tibetan theology, Mongol literature, Tibetan 
medicine, astronomy, astrology, and Buddhistic philosophy. 




THE LATE K.'AN-PO, OR GRAND LAMA OF THE BURIATS. 



\To face page 449. 



TRANS-BAIKALIA TO MOSCOW 449 

His examinations and disputations successfully passed, a 
candidate may gain his B.D., and go on to his D.D., or the 
titles which correspond thereto. Nevertheless, the great 
bulk of the lamas are not educated men, and their know- 
ledge is very superficial. There are notable exceptions to 
this rule, and the late K'an-po, or Khamba Lama, or Grand 
Lama of the Buriats at the Gelung Nor Datsan> whose 
photograph I give, was a man of considerable education 
and wide reading. The Gelung Nor (Lake of Priests), or 
Gusinoy Ozero, i.e. Goose Lake, as the Russians call it, is 
a sheet of water about fourteen miles long, separated 
from the south-eastern end of Lake Baikal by the Khamar 
Daban * range. 

Here is the chief Datsan, Lamaserai, or monastery of 
the Buriats. The traveller on the Trans-Baikalian Railway 
descends at Verkne Udinsk, and, posting for a full hun- 
dred miles through the winter snow, reaches Novi (New) 
Selenginsk. From here a track, leading westwards among 
low hills, brings him, after sixteen miles, to the lake. At 
the southern end rises a curious white temple, surrounded 
by log-huts. The hillsides are strikingly bare of trees ; 
and beyond appear the blue mountains of the Khamar 
Daban, shutting off Lake Baikal. 

The three-storied temple of the Lamaserai stands out 
prominently above the surrounding buildings. Its style 
is Chinese, and the white walls contrast with the brightly 
painted, vari-coloured woodwork of the galleries, adorned 
with gilt plates. Smaller temples, of one story only, 
surmounted with a bowed roof, called sume, contain each 
a sacred burkhan. The lamas are indignant at these being 
called idols, and disclaim any notion of the worship of what 
they regard as material representations of saints. Around 
the sume clusters quite a little town, comprising the dwell- 
ings of the lamas and the khouvarsks, or seminarists. 

The head of the hierarchical order of the Buriats is an 

* Daban is a Mongol word meaning a pass. 

2 G 



45o IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

Abbot, or Kan-po (also called Khamba) Lama, and he is 
commonly given the title of Dalai, or Grand Lama of the 
Buriats. The supreme title of Dalai (or ocean) strictly 
belongs to the " Pope " at Tibet, and next in order to him 
is the Pan-ch'en Rin-po-ch'e, also of Tibet, an ecclesiastic 
held in greater spiritual reverence, though of less political 
influence, than the Dalai Lama. After these follow in 
order of rank two whose districts lie on the borders of 
Tibet ; but the Mongols regard the Khutuktu, or Kan-po 
Lama of Urga, as next to the Dalai Lama of Tibet. At 
many of the Lamaserais are also khublighans, or re- 
incarnations of Tibetan saints, and these are looked upon 
with great reverence ; in fact, unless the Abbot himself 
claims also to be a re-incarnation, the former takes spiritual 
precedence. 

The accompanying illustration shows one of these 
re-incarnations, or "living gods," as they are sometimes 
called. Chosen when a baby as the repository of the 
re-born saint, the child is brought up under the charge of 
the lamas. He is regarded as sinless, but pays dearly 
for such a reputation. He has a poor time, and his 
secluded life checks his development, and leaves him the 
inferior and tool of the lamas. 

It was with this re-incarnated saint that my friend, 
M. Labbe, had an interview. The day was far advanced 
when the traveller arrived, and quarters were found for him 
in the village. The next morning, after due ceremony, 
he was ushered into the presence of the khubligan, or 
sinless one, Taranatha by name, a youth of pleasant 
countenance, and splendidly arrayed in silks. The inter- 
view that followed was eminently characteristic, both of 
the Buddhistic saint and the Frenchman. The one was 
all dignity and condescension, the other all suavity and 
politeness. The gegen expressed the hope that his dis- 
tinguished visitor from a far-off land had found his accom- 
modation in the village to his taste. M. Labbe* replied 




TARANATHA, A BURIAT "KHUBILGAN," OR "LIVING BUDDHA. 



[ To face page 450. 



TRANS-BAIKALIA TO MOSCOW 451 

with ceremonious thanks, but could not refrain from men- 
tioning that he had suffered from the attention of fleas. 
" However," he added, " I killed about thirty of them." " I 
regret it," said the gegen, gravely. "It was a sin to have 
done so. How do you know, but that in your next 
existence, you yourself may become a flea ? " " Then," 
replied M. Labbe, with true French politeness, " I should 
never attack your reverence ! " 

Lamaism has seen many incorporations of pagan deities 
and customs. Shamanistic tribes, other than the Buriats, 
were early received into the bosom of the Church, and, to 
make their entrance easier, their gods and rites adopted 
under new names or with slight modifications. 

One such notable custom is the Mystery Play. In 
Tibet it is called the Dance of the Red Tiger Devil, and 
is said by Mr. Waddell * to have originated in the Shaman- 
istic exorcisms of evil spirits, such as I have already 
depicted among the Orochons, with the added human, and 
perhaps cannibalistic, rites of earlier times. The motive 
to-day is the assassination of the " Julian of Lamaism by a 
lama disguised as a Shamanist dancer," but among the 
Buriats a much simpler significance is attached to their 
Mystery Play, or Tsam as they call it, viz. the triumph of 
good over evil spirits. 

Down in the space railed off in front of the temple is 
to be seen a vast crowd. Thousands of Buriats have come 
from great distances to witness the scene. As the audience 
waits expectantly, the noise of many musical instruments is 
heard. Big drums are booming, eight-feet trumpets are 
blowing, conch shells are sounding, cymbals are clashing, 
and triangles jangling, when suddenly several wild figures, 
in the strangest of masks, rush upon the scene. Some 
wear death's-head masks, or a combination of Father 
Christmas and Neptune ; another a stag's head and antlers, 
and yet others the heads of beasts, horned and not 
* The Buddhism of Tibet or Lamaism. 



452 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

horned, that would puzzle even the President of the 
Zoological Society. Grinning demons mingle in the crowd 
of hideous figures, one wearing a great open-mouthed 
devil mask, with little flags fluttering, and several other 
actors, who are maskless, having on their heads great hats 
with gilded filigree work. It is a strange but brilliant 
scene. The flashing of jewels and the rapid mingling of 
brocades, scarlet silks, purple velvet, and cords and tassels 
of all hues produce a wonderful kaleidoscopic effect. The 
spectator, dazzled by the brilliancy of the scene, and dazed 
by the din of the musical instruments, at length makes out 
that the lamas without masks and armed with daggers, who 
appear to typify the good spirits, have vanquished the 
death's heads and the miscellaneous demons and monsters 
of evil, and been left victors on the field. 

The musical instruments which do duty at the Tsam 
are regularly in demand for the summons to the daily ser- 
vice in the temple. The older lamas and highest dignitaries 
have theirs in the privacy of their own abode, and only 
attend on state occasions. By the third call of the trumpet 
all the lamas must be in their places, the Kanpo taking 
the post of honour, at the further end to the right of the 
central passage-way. The service consists of the chanting 
or intoning of prayers, and lasts ordinarily about a quarter 
of an hour. In his " Vom Japanischen Meer zum Ural " 
Graf Keyserling gives a translation of the remarkable creed 
recited, which runs thus — " I believe in the (holy) Teacher, 
in the existence of all beneficent Buddhas — present, past, 
and future — and also in the lamas and their disciples. I 
believe in Buddha (Gautama), his holy doctrine, the clergy, 
the religious assembling of ourselves together in the temple, 
and in the guardian spirits of the faith. I believe in 
Buddha, in the high priest, and in the saints. I repent of 
all the sins which I have committed, in general and in 
particular. I serve the well-being of all created things and 
rejoice therein, and in my heart I bear Buddha and all." 



3 
> 







TRANS-BAIKALIA TO MOSCOW 453 

It is an impressive declaration of faith, and a magnifi- 
cent challenge to the powers of evil ; but, like more 
civilized peoples, they can scarcely be said to live up to the 
standard of it. As I have already mentioned, Shamanism 
disguised still plays its part, and the traveller will come 
across select spots where the spirit of the wood or of the 
hills is propitiated by an array of rags fluttering in the 
breeze. Even Buddhist and Shintoist Japan, with all its 
modern dressing, can supply many similar examples. I 
remember in my wanderings in that country coming across 
a tiny altar to the deity of the forest, in the depth of a 
wood. It contained offerings of two or three sen (farthings), 
and we left them for the deputy of the god, the poor country 
priest who should come from over the mountains. 

The local deities are indeed hard to give up. There is 
no knowing what they may do to you in revenge, and 
" there's no harm done in hanging up a horse-shoe, even if 
it doesn't bring good luck." 

A friend of mine, an Englishman, was exploring in the 
country of the Sayots, a little-known Mongol tribe, whose 
habitat lies 500 miles to the west of the Buriats. From 
Siberia he had crossed the Sayansk and the Tannu Ola 
ranges into Mongolia, and was making in the direction of 
Kobdo. Again and again he had to swim rivers on horse- 
back, and coming one day to a larger one than usual, he 
found it in flood. The current was alarmingly swift, and it 
was a case of touch and go in mid-stream. His Mongol 
guide had begun by muttering prayers, but as he neared 
the middle his supplications to the presiding deity of the 
river grew louder and louder, and his free hand was raised 
higher and higher in entreaty, until his voice ended in 
almost a scream. Fortunately for my friend, the genius of 
the river was favourably disposed, and they reached the 
other side half drowned, yet alive and safe. Turning to 
his guide, who was a kind of deacon of his village temple, 
my friend said, " But I thought you were a Buddhist ? " 



454 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

" Yes, master," he replied, " but it is always well to keep on 
good terms with the local god." 

Early last century, with the sanction of Alexander I., 
three English missionaries were despatched by the London 
Missionary Society to the Buriats. Mr. Stallybrass and 
his wife, after a stay of a year and a half in Irkutsk, reached 
Selenginsk in October, 1819, and were closely followed by 
Messrs. Swan and Yuille and Mrs. Yuille. For twenty-two 
years they continued their work, moving, in 1825, 200 miles 
further into the centre of the field of operations. The 
nomadic habits of the tribe rendered their work difficult and 
precarious. In order to get hold of the children and educate 
them they had to board and feed them, but even then their 
absence was grudged. The missionaries plodded doggedly 
on until, after about twenty years' labour, there were signs 
of the " reception of truth " among some of their flock. 
Then a serious difficulty arose. These promising disciples 
were ready for baptism, but a pledge had been extracted 
from the English missionaries by the Russian Synod, which 
they had strictly kept, that no converts should be baptized. 
The Russian Church had no objection to receive them into 
her bosom, but it scarcely suited the purpose of the London 
Society to win over converts for the Russian Orthodox 
Church. Moreover, the liberal policy of Alexander I. was 
now replaced by an tikaz of Nicolas I. to the effect that the 
Synod in future would do all its own missionary work. In 
1840, therefore, the English mission was abandoned, and 
three graves of their loved ones mark the spot where these 
voluntary exiles spent their strength. They have left to 
themselves one great testimony in the excellent translation 
of the Bible from the Hebrew and Greek into the Buriat 
tongue, or, rather, the Mongol written language used by 
the Buriats, a translation which the Russian priests use as 
a basis of theirs. 

The Russian Orthodox Church has not made very great 
headway, and out of a total of 200,000 the Christian Buriats 



TRANS-BAIKALIA TO MOSCOW 455 

are said to number only 14,000. In the words of Graf 
Keyserling, " They (the Russian priests) are opposed by a 
faith that has struck deep into the roots of the nation, and 
the moral principles of which are held as beyond all 
doubt. They have to do with a Church which is more 
firmly organized than their own, and they find in the lamas 
opponents who are more variedly intellectual and — unfor- 
tunately, it must be added — more moral than they." 

Russian influence is beginning to tell on the nomadic 
life of the Buriats, and the advantages of agriculture, and 
the need for settlement to substantiate a claim to property 
against the Russian immigrant, are gradually influencing 
the former in the direction of a settled life. Already they 
are building wooden huts, in which they dwell for a short 
while. Occasionally, too, there is intermarriage between 
the Russian peasant and the Buriat ; indeed, the latter is 
known among the Russians locally by the term Bratsky.* 
In some cases the children are even sent to Russian schools, 
and at Moscow a half-caste Buriat, whom I saw at dinner 
in my hotel, is a doctor with a large practice in that city. 

But I must resist the temptation to linger over the 
habits and customs of a tribe which has up to the present 
received so little attention from students. 

In approaching Lake Baikal from Verkhne Udinsk the 
Trans-Baikalian line trends directly north for twenty-four 
miles, following the Selenga river and avoiding the Khamar 
Daban range, which rises to 6000 feet in height, and finally 
takes a west-south-westerly direction, towards the lake at 
Misovaya. The journey by the Trans-Siberian Railway has 
been repeatedly described, and I will not weary the reader 
with a repetition, or bore him with statistics of the con- 
struction and working of the line. A few impressions shall 
suffice. My journey was henceforward made with speed — 

* Bratsky means " fraternal," from brat, " brother." The term is 
intended as a diminutive of "brother," similarly to our use of " Sissy" 
for " sister." 



456 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

Siberian speed — in order to reach England before Christ- 
mas, which I accomplished with a margin of four days, 
allowing a few days' rest in Moscow and St. Petersburg to 
recover from the effects of the journey through Manchuria. 
The only contrast this part of my trip offers to those 
of others over the same route is the difference of season. 
Most undertake the journey by the Trans-Siberian Rail- 
way in summer. 

Five thousand miles of snow, from the Khingan moun- 
tains to St. Petersburg — no mere drifts, but a vast thick, 
white mantle everywhere — was an impressive sight that no 
words of mine will convey. Day after day, week after 
week, the same white pall, the vast country asleep, the 
forests unstirred by a whisper of breeze, the trees weighted 
with their six months' burden of snow, the huts buried 
deep, and nothing but a thin blue thread of smoke curl- 
ing heavenwards, or a muffled figure crossing the yard, 
told of life within. Friends ask, " Was it not monoto- 
nous ? " No ; not at all. The glorious mountain scenery 
of Trans-Baikalia, with its deep, fir-clad valleys, was 
followed by Lake Baikal, that huge sheet of water sur- 
rounded by a magnificent mountain range, snow-clad from 
summit to base. " But was not the plain — the 2000-mile 
plain between Irkutsk and the Urals — deadly dull ? " 
Again, no. One day we were running through a 100- 
mile forest, peering into the mysterious depths of the 
taiga (it was as if you were riding through a narrow riding 
in an unknown wood), and the next you were out upon 
a low plateau, watching the caravans on a frozen river, or 
the little log-built village in distant hollow. 

Lake Baikal, which marks the division between Eastern 
and Western Siberia, is an extraordinary sheet of water in 
more ways than one. Not only is it the largest fresh-water 
lake in the Eastern hemisphere, but it boasts the deepest 
soundings. In one spot the lead touches the bottom at 
a depth of 3185 feet. The level of its surface is 1561 feet 



TRANS-BAIKALIA TO MOSCOW 457 

above the sea. The water is of wonderful limpidity, and 
has given rise to many local legends. It goes by the 
name of Dalai Nor (ocean lake), or Bai-kul (rich sea), 
among the Mongols. Its length is 400 miles, and its 
width where the great ferries cross from Misovaya to a 
landing-station called Baikal 38^ miles. 

Two ice-breakers, built by Messrs. Armstrong & Co. — 
the Baikal and the smaller Angara — ply across the lake, 
the former supposed to take the trains, but only doing so 
on special occasions, when, for instance, an important 
official is travelling. The surface is liable to sudden and 
violent storms, and the passage is as much feared, and lasts 
as long, as the Dover to Ostend crossing. I made the 
crossing in the Angara, with a favourable wind ; but so 
strong was it that, on attempting to return to Mysovaya, 
she was beaten back, and had to give it up after an hour's 
struggle. To the east the mountains drop to low hills as 
they approach the lake, and on the west great cliffs, 
larch-covered, rise out of the water ; but to the south, in 
winter, is a remarkably imposing sight. A great jagged 
wall of mountains, snow-clad from base to summit, like a 
slice from the top of the Pyrenees in mid-winter, crowded 
down to the shore, making the problem of railway con- 
struction an extremely difficult one. 

Such is the strength of the wind, that though it was 
then the end of November, and ice filled the dock and 
fringed the shores, the lake was not frozen over — not until 
late in December do the ice-crushers come into play with 
their treble screws (one in front and two behind), and 
propelled on to the ice break it with their weight, to be 
again forced forward on to the unbroken fringe. My 
fellow-passengers waggishly named the Baikal vodokol 
(water-breaker), instead of lodokol (ice-breaker), because 
it sometimes fails to make its way. The explanation 
given me was to the effect that the authorities stipulated 
for a vessel to break two and a half feet of ice, and the 



458 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

Baikal was constructed to make its way through four feet ; 
but that the ice is sometimes found to be as much as 
seven feet thick. Through the winter sledges still make 
the journey across, and incredibly fast times have been 
done. Captain Cochrane, in the account of his wonderful 
pedestrian journey through Russia and Siberian Tartary 
in 1820, says, "We crossed in two and a half hours. Such 
is, however, the rapidity with which three horses abreast 
cross this lake, that the late Governor of Irkutsk usually 
did it in two hours." Under such conditions, it is of course 
dangerous to attempt to stop the horses on it, and some- 
times the sledge moves faster than the steeds, overtakes 
them, and slews round. The surface, when frozen over, 
presents many dangers in the shape of holes and weak 
places, especially at the beginning and towards the end of 
the sledging season. At these times the trip is undertaken 
at considerable risk, and prices rise in proportion with the 
danger, mounting, I was told, to as much as 400 rubles (^42). 
Many lives are lost every winter. Two days later I was thus 
precipitated into the water in crossing a river about a quarter 
of a mile wide — sledge, horse, driver, and all went in ; but, 
fortunately, we were in a comparatively shallow reach, and 
we managed to scramble out and seize the affrighted 
horse. So cold was it, however, that the water froze on us 
at once. 

A forty-mile journey over a line badly constructed and 
subject to landslips brings the traveller from the lake to 
Irkutsk. It is a town of nearly 60,000 inhabitants, with a 
few imposing stone and brick buildings, including the 
cathedral, museum, theatre, the two governors' houses, 
schools, etc. For the rest, it presents the usual mixture 
and anomalous condition of the Siberian town, with three 
or four "first-class hotels," lighted by electric light, and 
yet not one supplying really decent accommodation ; 
streets upon streets of log buildings, including the home 
of more than one millionaire, and a main artery with fine 



TRANS-BAIKALIA TO MOSCOW 459 

shops and lofty buildings, jostling wooden erections, or 
frowning on empty sites. 

One thing impressed itself upon me at Irkutsk which 
is worthy of mention. I refer to the large and splendid 
schools. Evidently it was an exceptional centre of educa- 
tion. One met students everywhere, hurrying along with 
books under their arms, and quite as many maidens as 
youths. Many of the institutions owe their existence to 
private munificence, and to the presence of large numbers 
of educated exiles. I was told that at least 500 girls 
attended the gymnasium and the other institutions for 
secondary education. They came from all parts of Siberia ; 
many of them boarded out in families, and proceeded from 
here to the University of Tomsk. 

On the evening of the day following my arrival, the 
jubilee of the foundation of the museum was being cele- 
brated, and a professor from Tomsk was delivering a 
biological lecture. I was considerably astonished to find 
the great lecture-room full of enthusiastic students, both 
male and female. I felt for the moment translated to a 
feriencursus in a German university. The contrast to all 
this came when we got outside. I was with a lady resident, 
to whom I had brought letters from the son of an exile on 
Sakhalin, and I naturally offered to drive her home, but she 
laughingly replied, " Oh no, thank you ; I am a ' new 
woman,' you see ; and besides, I have my revolver ! " Even 
to my ears this sounded strange in a big populous city, for 
I knew she had only to pass through main streets. On 
Sakhalin it was so familiar as not to be remarked, but 
here it was another thing. 

A spirit of freedom seemed to reign in the town, espe- 
cially in the educational realm. There was a breadth and 
liberality about it that would not be permitted in Moscow, 
Kiev, or St. Petersburg, and I was tempted to ask, " What 

if the Government were to put its hand down so , and 

restrict your aspirations and narrow your range of study 



460 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

as in the west, what would happen ? Would you rise ? 
Are you strong enough ? " The only answer was a smile, 
and a shrug of the shoulders. 

From Irkutsk I resumed my journey, after waiting 
two days for the train de luxe. To Moscow the distance 
is 3390 miles, and we were timed to do it in eight 
days. The way lies over a low plateau, and occasionally 
follows a broad river valley. As far as Nizhni Udinsk the 
forests are much thinned, but beyond, the line suddenly 
plunges into the taiga for 100 miles. Krasnoyarsk and 
the junction for Tomsk passed, and we were upon the 
low level of the Baraba steppe, which stretches as far as 
the Ural mountains. 

The carriages were excellently fitted, and more luxuri- 
ous because roomier than the European. Beginning with 
a speed of fourteen miles an hour, we increased to twenty 
by the time the Urals were reached. A white pall of snow 
hid everything, but many a picture or little wayside drama 
remains in my mind. At one time passing through the 
taiga at sunrise, the great Sol scarcely awake was glinting 
through the glades, lighting up the frosted silver birches 
until they glistened fairy-like, or flecking the snow carpet 
with crowns of light ; at another the great orb was wester- 
ing, but he stayed awhile to paint the distant ridges a rosy 
pink, and to fire the red-boled pines to a living glow. It 
is a new source of joy to those accustomed to a more 
humid climate, this play of light in an] absolutely clear 
atmosphere, and the brilliant sunshine without the 
suggestion of a thaw. Another picture remains in my 
mind. Outside the thermometer registered 37 of frost 
(Fahr.), and the sky was a clear, passionless, greenish-blue. 
The line ran along a ridge, from which we could see a 
goodly distance on either side. The sun was setting, and 
through the lace-like tracery of the graceful birches, decked 
with frost diamonds, a glimpse was vouchsafed of a celes- 
tial city rising far, far away out of a pure white snowy 






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TRANS-BAIKALIA TO MOSCOW 461 

plain— or was it but the glistening cupolas and soaring 
towers of a Siberian town ? 

Frequent stoppages to pick up fuel yielded many 
a picturesque glimpse by the wayside. Here, it was lines 
of peasant women clad in shubi to their knees, and felt 
top-boots, selling pine-cone seeds, butter, eggs, milk, etc., 
the latter carefully covered up to prevent its freezing. 
There, it was a train of hay-laden sledges crawling along 
a river, scarcely distinguishable except by its suspiciously 
level surface from the rest of the snowy waste. At Petro- 
pavlovsk, caravans of camels drawing sledges were starting 
south for their long journey to Tashkend in Turkestan. 

The frost has its advantages as well as its drawbacks. 
It is the time of transit par excellence. It is true that water 
for the stoves and the train in general had to be brought 
hot, lest it should freeze on the way ; and men at the 
stations had to chop off long icicles from the train ; but, on 
the other hand, carcases of oxen were sent direct from the 
slaughter-house to the station on sledges, and were simply 
transferred direct to the railway-vans for transit to the 
East. There was no need of cold chambers or refrigerators. 
Roughly speaking, Omsk is the dividing-line for the 
flow of natural products east and west. From places east 
of Omsk, wheat, rye, barley, and oats, meat, skins, and even 
dairy produce trend eastward to supply the needs of newer 
and less advanced settlements ; but from Omsk they 
begin to flow westward to St. Petersburg and Moscow, 
northward by the rivers to the Arctic ports, southward to 
Odessa, and by caravan to Central Asia. 

About twenty miles west of Kurgan, the line enters 
European Russia, that is, administratively speaking, for the 
old boundary-line between Europe and Asia is 250 miles 
further west. High up among the Urals, a few miles east 
of Zlato-ust is an obelisk bearing the inscription on one 
side, Asia, and on the other, Europe. The original is on 
the old post-road, and, if only it could speak, would have 



462 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

many a heart-rending tragedy to tell. How many exiles 
has it seen take their last long look on their homeland, 
and how many friends and relatives parting in bitter 
anguish with the banished, whose faces they were never to 
see again ? 

What a change it was to be among the mountains 
again, the first that the line negotiates for 2400 miles ; 
since indeed the Khamar Daban range on the further side 
of Lake Baikal. Leaving behind the great level expanse 
of white, broken only here and there by a thinned forest of 
birch and pine, the train literally plunges into the Urals, 
and though as a great mountain range they are as unim- 
pressive in height as they are imposing in length, the 
pleasure at being once more among the rocks and fir-clad 
heights is in no way diminished. The trees are no longer 
stunted or bent with the sweeping winds, but grow tall and 
free as in a park. In the Yablonoi mountains of the 
Amur oblast the valleys were broad, and we swept round 
big curves, but here the hills hemmed us in and seemed to 
threaten us. At one moment the train dived into a narrow 
rocky cutting, at another it traversed an embankment with 
vistas of range after range of snow-clad mountains with a 
lace-like covering of fir copses, and of white plateaux 
beyond. The snow was deep, soft, and woolly, unlike the 
crisp, hard, ground-glass kind that we had left the other side 
of Omsk. The frequent log-huts of the snow-clearers 
looked cosy, set in sheltered nooks among the trees and 
towering rocks. How inhospitable by contrast seemed 
the villages on the bare exposed plains ; but the Kirghiz 
and the Buriat would be as little content with the hill 
homes. How stuffy and breathless to be shut up in the 
valleys ; how baulking to have their view impeded by 
mountain and hill, how homesick they would be for the 
broad expanse of sky and the sunsets of the steppe. 

At the summit of the Urals a snow-storm threatened to 
block our way, but the wind abating saved us from 



TRANS-BAIKALIA TO MOSCOW 463 

impassable drifts. On the western side, the mountains 
dropped in gentle declivities to the great plain of European 
Russia. It was as if we were among the broad slopes of 
an English park, clothed with graceful pines and firs. The 
snow mantle lay deep and soft, smoothing out all rough- 
nesses with a gentle hand and rendering all things 
beautiful. The trees wore their warm winter garb of 
fleecy white, and the hazel thickets with veritable blossoms 
of snow looked like a cotton-field at harvest. 

Another day passed, and I was on the vast plain 
nearing Samara, and crossing the great frozen Volga by 
the fine bridge at Sizran. From Sizran less than two days' 
journey brought me to Moscow, which was reached punctu- 
ally to the minute. The roads, the rivers, and every other 
physical boundary were indistinguishable, and pine-branches 
had been placed along the routes to guide the infrequent 
travellers. Hurdles bending down before the wind bordered 
the line in exposed places to fend off the drifting snow. 
The country was strikingly little altered, as far as one 
could see, in entering Europe. The same great snowy 
plain merging in sky at the indiscernible horizon, and the 
same sparsely inhabited country. 

Miles and miles intervened between the little villages, 
whose kennel-like huts in the deep snow were scarcely 
distinguishable save for the church of white stucco with 
its green roof and octagonal tower, crowned by a cupola, 
towering like Gulliver among the Liliputian homes of the 
peasants. How dull, how cut off from the world must be 
the life of such villages separated from their nearest neigh- 
bours by twenty miles. 

After having lived for centuries in isolated villages on 
huge plains, with little or no communication with the outer 
world, having had no Renaissance, no Reformation or Revo- 
lution, the Russian peasant has at last made his discovery 
of a new world, with some of the hopes and outgoings of 
imagination that all these brought to us in Western Europe. 



464 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST 

It is difficult for us to conceive, to mentally sympathize with 
the fatalistic element in the nature of the muzhik, living for 
centuries his life of isolation, fighting with the energy, not 
of hope but rather of despair, against the hard conditions 
of cold and scarcity. Then there came to him suddenly 
the great expectations raised by the emancipation, which 
in so many cases proved a fraud. Now this opening up of 
a new land of fabulous resources, gold and silver, copper, 
coal, and iron, of agriculture, cattle breeding and dairy 
produce, all this has come as the discovery of a new world, 
and you feel it in the air. Even as you talk with the 
people you are amused at their naivete and credulity, but 
the feeling is there. 



INDEX 



A., Mrs., 344, 345 

Ado Tim, 135, 153, 155, 225 

, departure from, 307 

, description, 137, et seq. 

, priest comes to, 230 

, return to, 304 

Aga river, 443 

station, 443 
Aigun river, 37 

Treaty of, 45 n., 57, 410 
Ainus (Sakhalin), 113, 115, 160, 202, 
283 

difficulties of reaching, 87, 333, 334 

La Perouse, 98 

"loss" of written language, 240 

numbers, 116 

origin, 114 

proposal to visit, 78-80 

villages, 282 n., 283 

(Yezo), 97, 165 
Aleutian Isles, 116 

Alexandrovka (Duika) river, Great, 
84, 88, 223, 358 

Little, 84, 119,358 
Alexandrovsk, 121, 130, 376, 385, 398 

arrival off, 77, 81 

bazar (market-place), 352, 353, 386 

cemetery, 352 

Chancellerie, 82, 350 

church service, 378 

climate, 106-108, 379, 380 

convict-servants, 377 

convict-student, 84 

departure, 119 

description, 84, et seq., 335, 336 



Alexandrovsk — continued. 

difficulties of leaving, 327-333, 375 
district {okrug), Chief of, 82, 85, 

112, 116 
farewell, 400 
geological formation, 113 
journal, 331 
population, 84 
precautions in, 355-357, 373 
prison centre, chief, 116 
prisoners, arrival, 141, 348, 349 

, classification, 338 

, gangs, 91,336, 337 

, religious convictions, 364, 

365 
prisons, 336-340, 348, 362-365 

, rations, 343, 344, 394 

, "reformatory," 336-338 

, " testing," 337-339 

return, 323-325 
route to, 27, 54 
scenes in, 336, 337, 351, 371, 376, 

381-387 

school games, 145, 369, 370 

stormy nights, 380, 381 
Alexandrovsky post (mainland), 401 
Amgun river, 53, 61 
Amur region {oblast), 44, 45, 462 

river (Saghalien oula), 24, 95, 99, 
102, 408, 409, 412 

, Blagovestchensk, 37, 38, 42 

boundary, 45, 410 

, cession to Russia, 24 

, description, 48, et seq. 

, escape by, 43 

465 2 H 



466 



INDEX 



Amur river — continued. 

, Jesuit Fathers, 95 

, Khabarov descends, 44 

, Khabarovsk, 45 

, mouth (liman), 18, 61, 75, 

117,330 

, navigation, 27, 28 

, route by, 29-31, 327 

, sledging, 55-57, no, 401 

, thawing — floods, 101, in 

Andaman Islands, 115 

AnivaBay, 94, 98, 117 
Cape, 94, 104 

d'Anville, 96-98 

Argun river, 45, 49, 412 

Arkovo (Gilyak village), 87, 88 

the First (Russian village), 89, 120, 
121, 368 

," rich " farmer of, 89, 90, 143 

the Third (Russian village), 124, 
322 

Armunka, 156 
hunter, 181 
family, 277, 300, 301 

Artel, 131, 307 

Auk-vun-wauk, 172 

Ayan, 99 

Baikal, Lake, 30, 406, 441, 442, 449, 

455 

, description, 456-458 

, ice-breakers, 457 

, sledging, 458 

Baraba steppe, 460 
Barratasvili, 129-132 

survivor of his band, 316 
Basalt Island, 401 
Batchelor, Rev. J., 165 
Bazevich, Mr. L., 222 
Bear fete. See Gilyak. 
Birds, migration of. See Fauna, Aves. 
Blagovestchensk, 21, 30, 36, 48 

massacre, 37, et seq. 
Bluffstein Sophie (the Golden Hand), 

319,^^. 
Boatassin river, 221, 226, 228 
Bor, 50 
Boshniak, Lieut., 117 



Bridges, 125,311, 312 

Brodyagi, 29, 147, 159, 210, 309, 312 

chances of, 120, 151, 152, 188, 339 

check on development of Sakhalin, 
279, 280 

encamped, 1 77 

ex-naval captain, 152-154 

grave of, 227 

great gang of 1896, 280, et seq. 

mail attacked by, 90 

natives and, 54, 259 

numbers, 133, 142, 143 

on the Due road, 376 

prospectors and, 244, 279, 290, 291 

seize merchant's son, 376 

tracking, 133, 154 
Broughton, Captain W., 99 
Buran, 56, 299 
Buriats, 441, 446, et seq., 462 

conversion to Lamaism, 447 

creed, 452 

Datsan, 449 

dress, 448 

education of boys, 448 

English missionaries to, 454 

homes, 447 

inter-marriage with Russians, 455 

K'an-po, or Grand Lama, 449 

Khouvarsks, 449 

Khublighans, 450 

Khutuktu, 450 

lamas, 448-450, 45^, 455 

Mystery play (Tsam), 451, 452 

numbers and habitat, 446, 447 

Shamanistic practices, 447, 451, 

453 
Taranatha, 450 

temple, 449 

Cable, 76, 329-331 

Canoes. See Gilyaks. 

Capital punishment, 132 

Castries Bay, De — 

, allies visit in 1855, 100, 403 

, Amur river and, 52, 53 

, call at, 74-76, 401-403 

, communications with, 331, 

332 



INDEX 



467 



Castries Bay, De — continued. 

, description, 401-403 

, discovery of, 76, 98 

Chaillet, Professor, 77 
Chaivo Bay, 164 n., 187, 230 
arrival at, 215 

shallows connecting with Ni Bay, 
225, 250 
Chaivo village, 231 
Cham. See Gilyaks. 
Chekov, Anton, 392 
Chinese Eastern Railway (Manchurian 
Railway), 27, 32, 413, et seq. 

, agreements concerning, 30, 

410 

, completion, 19 

, condition, 413, 422, 423, 

426, 428 
-, construction train, 414, 422, 



423, 428, 435 

, laying of line, 426, 427 

, opening, 405 

— — , route and length, 412, 413, 
419, 433 

, stations, actual and potential, 

415, 416, 420, 425, 433-437 

massacre of, 38, 39, 41 

prisoners, 372 

silk brocade, 230, 272 

, for lying in state, 278 

, price of a bear, 217, 242 

temple, 432 
Chinghis Khan, 409 
Chita, 31, 441, 443, 444 

climate, 107 

river, 443 
Choi river, 424 n. 
Coal — 

mines, 113, 336, 348, 411 

prisoners to work, 91, 117, 336, 

399, 400 
quality and extent, 330, 398, 399 
Cochrane, Captain, 458 
Colonization, 32, 141 
Commercial enterprise and restrictions, 

21 
Convicts. See Alexandrovsk, Niko- 
laevsk, and Sakhalin. 



Crime, heredity of, 145, 146 
Current, cold. See Okhotsk cold 
current, 
warm. See Kuro Siwo. 

Dagi, 205 

Dal, 284 

Dalni, 24, 3 1 

Dekabrists, 443 

Dekkan trap, 161 

" Departed spirit, " a, 163 

Derbensk, 131, 311, 314 

description, 126-128 

doctor, 152, 153 

prison centre, 116, 118 
DeWindt, Mr. H., 66, m 
Diem en, Antonio van, 91 
Dobell, Peter, 103 
Drunkenness, 350, 351 
Due- 
coal-mines, 117, 398 

my interpreter schoolmaster at, 83, 
342, 389 

prison, 354 

road to, 129, 130, 358, 359, 376 

visit to, 358-360, 389 
Duga, 119 
Duzinza station, 413, 416 

Elizabeth, Cape, 269 

Elopement, 263 

Emperor's Bay, 404 

Europe and Asia, boundary, 461 

Execution, 132 

" Exile-settler." See Sakhalin. 

Exiles, political. See Sakhalin. 

Ex -judge, story of, 370, 371 

Ex-millionaire, 98 

Exorcism, 235, et seq., 451 

Fauna — 
Aves, migration, 215, 251, 287-289 
brambling {Fringilla mo7itifrin- 

gilla), 288 
bullfinch (Pyrrhula rosacea), 288 
capercailzie ( Tetrao urogallus), 289, 

296 
crow (Corvus corone), 132, 226, 288 



468 



INDEX 



Fauna — Aves — continued. 

cuckoo ( Cuculus canorus), 288 

duck, 137, 184 

, golden eye {Clangula glau- 

cion), 287 
, harlequin {Clangula histrio- 

nica), 287 
dunlin {Tringa cinclus), 251 
eagle, white-tailed {Halietus albi- 

cillus), 176, 226, 231, 288 
finch, long- tailed rose {Uragus 

sanguinolentus), 102 
goosander {Mergus merganser), 251 
goose, bean {Anser segetum Midd.), 

136, 184, 288 
grouse, hazel {Tetrao bonasia), 289, 

431 

, willow {Lagopus albus), 289 

gull {Larus canus niveus), 205, 251 
hawk {Falco amurensis ?), 132 
jay (Garrulus Brandtii), 132 
kingfisher {Alcedo bengalensis), 132 
knot, eastern ( Tringa crassirostris), 

251 

lark, Japanese (Alauda japonica), 

288 
magpie {pica candata), 436 
mallard {Anas boschas), 287 
osprey {Pandion haliatus), 102 
ouzel, dusky {Merulafuscata), 288 
owl, snowy {Syrnium uralense), 

1 66, 288 
oyster-catcher {Hcematopus oscu- 

lans), 251 
redshank ( Totanus calidris), 25 1 
robin, Siberian {Erithacus calliope), 

288 
, whistling {Erithacus sibi- 

lans), 288 
sandmartin {Cotyle riparia), 132, 

288 
sandpiper, common ( Totanus hypo- 

leucus) t 205, 251 
, green {Totanus ochropns), 

251 

, terek {Totanus tereh'a), 251 

, wood ( Totanus glareola\ 25 1 

smew {Mergus albellus), 251 



Fauna — Aves — continued. 

snipe {Scolopax gallinago), 178, 205 
snipe, pintail {Scolopax stenura), 

251 

snow-bunting {Plectrophanes niva- 
lis), 288 
stint {Tringa subminuta), 251 
, red-throated {Tringa rufi- 

collis), 251 
swan, hooper {Cygnus musicus), 

176, 287 
swift {Cypselus pacificus) t 288 
, needle-tailed {Chaetura cau- 

dacuta), 288 
teal, Baikal {Anas querquedula 

formosa), 287 

, crested {Anas/alcata), 287 

, garganey {Anas querquedula) , 

287 
tern {Terna Aleutia), 251 

{Terna Kamchatka), 251 

titmouse, long-tailed {Acredula 

caudata), 288 
tree-pipit, eastern {Anthus macu- 

latus), 288 
, red-throated {Anthus cer~ 

vinus), 288 
turnstone {Strepsilas interpres), 25 1 
turtle-dove, eastern {Turtur orien- 

talis), 288 
wagtail, white {Motacilla lugens), 

132, 288 
, yellow {Motacilla taivana), 

132, 288 
woodpecker {Picus pipra?), 176 
wren, Japanese {Troglodytes fumi- 

gatus), 288 
Echinodermata — 

trepang {holothurea edulis), 404 
Lepidoptera — 

Camberwell beauty ( Vanessa anti- 

opa), 124 
fritillary {Melitcea phcebe ?), 124 
peacock ( Vanessa Io)> 124 
Mammalia 

bear, brown {Ursus arctos) y 61-62, 

106, 166-168, 176, 179-181, 

433. See also Gilyak — bear. 



INDEX 



469 



Fauna — Mammalia — continued. 

boar, wild (sus scrofa ferus), 102, 

433 
elk (Cervus alces), 102 

fox (Cams vulpes), 106, 170, I79> 

297, 298 
grampus (Orca atra), 255 
lynx (felts lynx), 433 
marten (Mustela martes, ? erminea), 

170 
musk deer (Moschus moschiferus), 

297 
otter (Lutra vulgaris), 106, 170 
reindeer (Cervus tarandus), 62, 

102, 106, 219, 297-299 
sable (Mustela zibellina), 106, 170, 

211,212. See also Gilyak — sable, 
seal (Arctocephalus monteriensis), 

255 

, banded (Histriophoca fusci- 

ata), 175 

fur (Callorhinus ursinus), 1 75 

hair (Phoca vitulina), 175, 

181, 252, 289. See also Gilyak 

— seal, 
sea-lion (Eumetopias Stelleri), 255, 

256. See also Gilyak — sea-lion 
squirrel, ground (Tamias striatus), 

102 
tiger (Felis tigris), 102 
whale, white (Delphinapterus leu- 

cas), 255 
wolf (Cants lupus), 61, 106 
Pisces — 

haddock (Gadus ceglefinus or 

Vachnya), 256 
halibut (Pleuronectes hippoglossus), 

256 
herring (Clupea harengus), 256 
ide (Idus melanotus), 257 
salmon (Salmo lagocephalus), 158 

n., 255, 257, 303. See also 

Kita. 
, or gorbusha (Salmo proteus), 

158 n., 257 
shad (Clupea Alosa jintd), 61 
smelt (Osmerus eperlanus), 255—257 
trout (Salmo fario), 255-257 



Feast-days, Russian, 350, 377, 378,391 

Feng-t'ien (Shing-king), 409-412 

Ferrel's law, 176 

Fire, 381, 382 

Fizik, brothers. See Orochons. 

Flogging. See Sakhalin convicts, fe- 
male, plet, and rozgi. 

Flora, 102, 103, 105 

acacia (Robinia pseudacacia ?), 34 

alder (Alnus incana), 155 

ash (Fraxinus manchurica), 34, 

295 
mountain (Pyrus aucuparia), 

105, 124, 218, 295 
aspen (Populus tremula), 105, 124 
bamboo (Arundinaria kurilensis), 

103 
birch (Betula alba), 105, 124, 133, 

155, I70, 290, 295, 309 

(Betula Ermani), 103 

camomile, field ( Chamaemelam 

tetragonaspermum ?), 275 
campanula ( C. glo?nerata ?), 34 
cedar. See Swiss pine, 
cloudberry (Rubus cha?ncemorus), 

105 
cork-tree (Phellodendron amurense), 

103 
cowberry. See whortleberry, 
cranberry (0 xy coccus palustris), 105 
crowberry (Empetrum nigrum), 

105 
elder, red-berried (Sambucus race- 

mosa), 34, 124, 133, 295, 309 
elm (Ulmus campestris and mon- 

tana), 105, 124, 133 
fir (Abies Sakhalinensis), 105, I7°> 

218, 292 
gentian (Gentiana triflora?), 34 
heracleum (H. barbatum), 105. 

See also pis 
hornbeam (Carpinus betulusf), 34 
horse-tails (Equisetum sylvaticum), 

133 

hydrangea (H. scandens and pani- 

culata), 103 
larch (Larix daurica), 103, 105, 

133, 155, 2 95, 309 



470 



INDEX 



Flora — continued. 

lichen (not Cladonia rangiferina ; 
Usnea longissima and Alectoria 
jubata), 105, 211, 222 

maple {Acer mono), 105 

meadow-sweet (Spircea ulmaria ?), 

34 

Michaelmas daisies {Erigeron elon- 

gatus?), 34 
nettle ( Urtica dioica), 220 
nut (Panax ricinifolia) f 105, 133, 

iS5. 218 

oak (Quercus mongolicd), 34 
pine, Swiss (Pinus cembra pumila), 
34, 103, 124, 187, 218, 309, 436 
poplar (Populus suaveolens), 155 > 

295 
raspberry, wild (Rubies idczus), 124, 

133 

rose, wild (Rosa rugosa and cin- 
namomea), 88, 124, 187, 309 

sallow (Salix caprea), 170 

spindle-tree (Euonymus macrop- 
terus), 103 

spiraea (S. betulcefolia ?) , 34, 105, 

133, 309 
spruce (Piccea ajanensis), 105, 124 
tangle seaweed (Laminaria escu- 

lenta), 196. See also PuchL 
vine ( Vitis Thttnbergii), 102 
walnut (Juglans manchurica?), 34 
whortleberry ( Vaccinium vitis 

idcea), 105, 133 
willow (Salix macrolepis and Sak- 
halinensis), 34, 105, 124, 155, 
170, 218, 292 
Formosa, 115 
Forts, Russian, 425 
" Free-command." See Sakhalin. 
" Free Russia," 369 
Friken, Mr. A. von, 182, 183, 334 
Fusan, 2, 3, et sea., 16 



Gambling, officials, 350, 360 

prisoners, 150, 305 
Garnak, Colonel, 122 
Gavrilov, Lieut., 99 



Gelung Nor. See Goose Lake. 
Gensan ( Wonsan or Yuensan), 6, 15, 16 

description, 9, et sea. 

Korean post-office, 10 
Gilyak — 

art, 195 

barter with, 175 

bear and evil spirit, 238, 239 

constitutional, 301, 302 

fete, 162, 195, et sea. 

tracking and capture, 136, 

137, 172, 278, 294-297, 306 

belief in next world, 163-165, 241, 
et sea. 

brodyagi and, 120, 154 

burial rites, 242, et sea. 

canoes, 159, 160, 178 

cauldron, 269 

cemetery, 202, 244 

cna/n, 164 

at bear fete, 199, 200 

excorcism of evil spirit, 193, 

236-238 

interview with, 231, et sea. 



charms, 193 

chronology, 211, 226 

clans (Khala), 209, 242, 258 

clothing, 36, 158, 271 

decay, causes of, 225, 229, 262, 

273, et seq. 
diseases, 275, 315 
disputes and duels, 301 
dogs, 94 

fierceness, 172, 173 

food, 174, 274 

ghosts and, 165 

hunting, 258, 295 

mail-sledge teams, 108-110, 

331 



sacrifice of, 201, 238 

elders (kienu), 209, 234, 301 

elopement, 263 

features, 135, 157, 158 

food, 135, 158, 196, 256, 274, 290, 

303 
preparation of, 173, 174, 207. 

See also Kita. 
games, 200 



INDEX 



471 



Gilyak — continued. 

gods, 248. See also Pal-, Tol-, 
and Tur-ni-vookk and Kiskh. 

huts, 52, 161, 198 

, interior, 192, 193, 207, 260, 

261, 300 

, origin, 114, 116, 190, et seq. 

khala. See clans. 

knives, 173, 246 

land division, 300 

language, no written, 240, 241 

legends, 100, 102, 240, 241 

lovers' suicide, 264 

lyrics, 264, 265 

maiden's song, 266, 267 

mainland, on, 76 

marriage, 262, 263, 268, 269 

rite, 270 

musical instruments, 197, 272 

needle, valued by, 221 

needlework, 220 

numbers, 116, 261, 262, 275 

origin, 116, 191, 233 

payment of debts, 291 

pharmacopoeia, 275, 276 

polygamy, 261 

prisoners, 68 

sable holiday, 211, et seq. 

seal holiday, 252, et seq. 

hunt, 252 

sea-lion hunt, 256 

tribes, Tim and Tro, 164, 209, 245 

— — West coast, 209 

tzakh, 1 60, 193, 197, 198 

villages, 88, 161, 172-174, 291 

weapons and snares, 171, 245, 252, 
296, 298 

woman's position, 263, 271 

worship, 193, 194, 211, 293 
Gilyaks, 87, 94, 113, 115, 126 
Golden Horn, 17 
Gold mining, 24, 48, 49, 224, 41 1 
Golds, 35, 36 

influence on Gilyaks, 115, 220 

on the Amur, 50, 52, 95 
Goose Lake (Gelung Nor), 449 
Gorbusha. See Fauna, salmon. 
Gregoriev, Madame, 139, 305 



Griffith, Mr. Geo., 145 
Grodekov, Governor-general, 37, 280, 
402, 414, 436 
station, 413, 414 
Grodiyanka (Marokin), 152, 154 
Gubermann, 65, 66 

Ham das a the Second, 284 
Harvie-Brown, Mr., 287 
Heh-lung-kiang, 411, 412, 424 
Hinka, Lake. See Khanka, Lake. 
Hosie, Mr. A., 45 n., 412, 423 
Hung Tung Shu, 372 

Iceland, 385 

Ichara pal (Pic Lamanon), 104 

Ignatiev, Count, 45 

Ilinsky Post. See Kusunai. 

Ingoda river, 443 

Inland Sea, 2 

Irkutsk, 28, 142, 406, 413, 456 

an educational centre, 459 

impressions of, 458, 459 
Irr Kirr, 156, 157, 277, 300 
Ishir, 225 

Japan, art of, 4 

Russia and Korea, 15? 16 

and Sakhalin, 99, H7» 188, 

329, 330 
schooners from, 188, 189 
Jesuit Fathers, 94, et seq. 
Jonquiere Point, 113, 330, 398 

Kaidolovka river, 443 
Kalenik, 286 

Kamavo, 188, 190, 192, et seq. 
Kamchatka, 44, 113, 115 

legends of, 115 
Kandalnaya tyurma ("chained pri- 
son"), 150, 338, 393, 394 
K'angshi, Emperor, 94 
Karafto, 93, 97 
Karimskaya station, 31, 443 
Kaspuchi, 281, 282 
Ke tching ta se Tartars, 95, 96 
Keyserling, Robert Graf, 452, 455 
Khabarov, 44 



472 



INDEX 



Khabarovsk, 42, 43, 49, 50, 62, 102, 412 
climate, 46, 107 
description, 44, 47 
distance from Nikolaevsk, 56 
Governor-general's residence, 37, 

44 

routes via> 27-31 
Khailar, 436 

Khamar Daban, 449, 455, 462 
Khanka, Lake, 31, 33 
Kharbin, 20, 406, 415 

arrival at, 416 

Chinese attack, 37, 419 

hotel, 417 

junction, 412 

New, 417, 418 
Khazeliv Islands, 109 
Kherivo, 302 

Khilkov, Prince M., 418, 419 
Khilok river, 445 
Khingan mountains, Great (or Hsing- 

han), 412, 433, 434 
Khitans (or Sitans), 408 
Khoy, 284 
Khunhus, 410 
Kibitkdy 119, 128 
Kiev, 140 n., 152, 459 
Kirghiz, 58, 65, 82, 379, 462 
Kirin city, 412 

province, 411 
Kiskh, 193, 239, 243 
Kita. See also Fauna [Salmo lago- 
cephalus). 

abundance, 61, 155 

native preparation of, 138, 173 

spearing, 149, 171, 273 
Kitaesky Razyezd (Chinese junction), 

31.442 
Kitchen as a hostel, 375—377 
Kitchen-middens, 114 
Kizi, lake, 52 
Kloster Kamp, 401 
Knut, 340 
Kobdo, 453 
Korea, 2, 15, 16, 113 

coast, 3, 8 

crafts, 12, 13 

crushed by Japan, 5, 7 



K orea — continued. 

dress, 5-7, 13 

fairs, 8 

homes, 6 

Japanese in, 16 

kagos, 5 

population, 4 

trade, 4 
Korsakovsk (South Sakhalin), 104, 
116, 117, 280-282 

climate, 107 

district [okrug), 116, 133 

village (near Alexandrovsk), 382 
Krasnoyarsk, 460 
Krusenstern, 99 
Ktausi pal, 10 1 
Kurgan, 461 

Kurile Islands, 113, 117, 190 
Kuro Siwo, 103 

Kusunai (Ilinsky Post), 117, 126 
Kuznetsov, Mr., 335 

Labbe, M., 450, 451 
Landor, Mr. A. H. S., 149 
Lansdell, Dr. H., 344 
La Perouse, 76, 98, 101, 401 

Strait, 99, 104 

Lats. See Shadoufs, 

Laufer, Dr., 194, 195, 240 

Lava, 113, 403 

Lazarev, Cape, 54» l°°> I0 3> io 9 

Lepers, 62 

Leroy-Beaulieu, Mr. A., 142 

Liao river, 412 

Liao-Tung, 408, 411 

Little Russians, 140, 148, 151, 152, 

305. 373 

Mail, attack on, 90 
Malay Peninsula, 115 
Malmizhkoy, 48 
Manchuria, 32, 191, 406 

agriculture, 411, 431 

area and boundaries, 15, 410, 411, 
423 n. 

history, 407, etseq. 

Japan, Russia and, 16 

Jesuit Fathers in, 95 



INDEX 



473 



Manchuria — continued. 

minerals, 411 

rivers, 412 

Russians attacked in, 36, 37, 39, 
42, 418, 419 

station, 413, 421, 437, 440 
Manchurian Railway. See Chinese 

Eastern Railway. 
Manchus (Mantcheoux) — 

history, 407, et seq. 

Jesuit Fathers' report, 95-97 

of Tungus stock, 115, 208, 408 
Manue, 126, 280, 281 
Maria, Cape, 269 
Marinsk, 52, 53 
Marokin. See Grodiyanka. 
Marovsk, Count, 371 
Maxim, the Tungus, 209, 210 
Mayer, Miss Eugenie de, 346, 381, 391, 

et seq. 
Mendukhey station, 434 
Mi, 76, 109, no 
Ming dynasty, 409, 410 
Misovaya, 457 
Mist phenomenon, 149 
Mligh-vo, 163-165, 245 
Mogun-kotan, 282 
Mongolia, 423, 445, 453 
Mongols, 409, 424, 439, 450, 453 
Moscow, 21, 459 

escape to, 65, 66 

Trans-Siberian Railway and, 28, 

30, 406, 444, 460, 463 
Mukden, 412 

Muraviev-Amursky, Count, 45, 99, 100 
Muravievsk Post, 117 
Murder, 366 

by Barratasvili and band, 129, 130, 

359 
by Sophie Bliiffstein, 321 
during my sojourn, 350—352 
in Irkutsk, 142 
in the bazar, 351, 353 
of an " exile-settler," 125 
of a Tartar wife, 383, 384 
of a youth, 88, 120, 323 
of three soldiers, 316 
on Due road, 359 



Nabil Bay, 164 n., 189 

river, 263 
Nagasaki, 1-3, 17 
Narta, 108, 221 
Nay-ero, 280, 283 
Nerchensk, 31, 69 
Nevelsky, Captain, 57> 99> 100 
Ni, Bay of — 

birds, 251, 287 

connected with Chaivo Bay, 

225, 250, 251 

description, 186, et seq. 

discharge of Tim into, 105 



Nikolaevsk — 

Amur at, 75 

arrival at, 53 

barges, 60 

communications with Sakhalin 
and the Upper Amur, 26, 27, 
2 9> 48, 56, 108, no, 217 

decline, 24, 44 

description, 57, et seq. 

fracas in the inn, 70, 71 

"market," 60 

prisons, 58, 66, et seq. 

, escape from, 70 

prisoners, landing of, 64, 65 

, rations, 69 

Nikolskoy, 31, 414 
Ninguta, 412 
Nivo, 188, 259 

1 ' Lord Mayor " of, 260, et seq. 
Nizhni Udinsk, 460 
Nonni river, 412, 413, 424, 428, 429 
Novi Selenginsk, 449 
Nii-chen (Nu-ch'ih), 53, 407, 408, 409 
Nurhachu, 409 
Nutovo river, 222, 223, 226 

Observatory Island, 76, 401 

Odessa, 1, 32, 461 

Officials' pay, Russian, 304 

Okhotsk, 61, 103 

cold current, 103, III, 187, 256 
Sea, 61, 114, 184, 190, 287, 325 
frozen region of, SS 

Omsk, 461 

Ongun station, 436 ; 



474 



INDEX 



Onon river, 443 
Onor, 283, 284 

cleared track, 280, 285 

Mayer, Miss de, at, 394 
Orochon, 95, 113, 190 

barter with, 214 

brothers Fizik, 209, 217, et seq., 
279 

clothing, 36 

comparison with Gilyak, 207-209 

feast, 211 

first meeting with, 205 

food, 207, 218 

hut, 205, et seq., 217, 218, 230 

origin and numbers, 114, 116, 208 

Oto, the idiot, 250 

relations with Gilyaks, 258, 300 

Russian priests and, 208, 230, 231 

tents, 286 
Oroktis, 36, 208, 234, 401, 403 

Palach, 341 
Palivo, 284 
Pal ni vookh, 180 

bear's spirit to, 162, 201-203 

deceased's spirit to, 243 

offering to, 194, 212, 213 

Pappenberg, 2 

Patience, Bay of, 104, 189, 280, 334 

Cape, 104, 170, 176 

, d'Anville's map and, 98 

, discovery of, 94 

Patrin, Chief of Alexandrovsk Prison, 

121, 342, 343, 360, etseq. 
" Peasants." See Sakhalin. 
Peking, 2, 31, 36, 329 
Petroleum prospectors, 92, 204, 222, 

224, 290, 291 
Petropavlovsk (Kamchatka), 24 

(Western Siberia), 461 

fortress of (St. Petersburg), 345, 
346 
Pic Lamanon (Ichara pal), 104 
Pic la Martiniere, 101 
Pigmies, 115 
Pilinga river, 284 
Pillaniitsich, 259 
Pilsudski, Mr. B., 229, 263 



Pis (Heracleum barbatum), 196 
Platonov, Mr. R. S., 223 

Plet, 339, 341 

Pogaevsky, Dr., 274 

Pogobi, Cape, 54? 100 

peninsula theory and, 103 

prisoners' escapes vid, 120, 

150, 159, 279 
sledge route vzd, 108, 109 

Pogranitchnya, 30 

Poliakov, Dr., 223 

Ponies, method of defence, 307 

Poronai river, 104, 280 n., 285, 334 

Port Arthur, I, 24, 41 1 

railway to, 412, 413, 437 

Povlianov, Mr. P. S., 345, 346 

Poyarkov, Vasil, 44 n. , 94 

Pre- Ainu race, 97, 1 14, 335, 336 

Pri-Amursky oblast, 44, 116, 414 

Priests, Russian, 314, 388-391 

, at Alexandrovsk, 378 

, Buriat lamas and, 455 

, Orochons and, 208, 230, 

231, 3H 
Primorsk, 15, 25, 114, 191 

agriculture, 33 

Russian annexation, 45 

through the, 32 
Prisons. See Alexandrovsk, Due, Ni- 

kolaevsk, Rikovsk. 
Prjevalsky, 287 
Pronge fishery, 62, 63 

Point, 61, et seq., no 
Puchi {Laminaria esculenta), 196 
Pusan. See Fusan. 



Race, canoe, 228, 229 

Rhodes, Cecil, 26 

Rikovsk, 90, 284, 285, 314, et seq. 

climate, 106, 107 

prison, 116, 315-317 
Rinzo, Mamia, 99 
Robben Island. See Seal Island. 
Rozgi, 340 

Russian- American Company, 61 
Russo-Chinese Bank, 18, 41, 54, 58, 

444 



INDEX 



475 



Russo-Chinese Bank — continued. 

, Chinese Eastern Railway 

and, 30, 410 
, delays at, 20, 72 



Saghalien oida. See Amur river. 
Sahalien village (mainland), 37, 39, 42, 

43 

St. George's Day, 314 

St. Petersburg, 21, 31, 80, 406, 459 

climate, 107 

convicts from, 79, 369 

vast distance of, 56, no, 328, 

329 

Sakhalin (Saghalien or Sahalien), island 
of, 24, 44, 48, 71, 74 
aborigines and native races, 113, 

* se 1'i 337 
administration, 388, 400 
administrative divisions, 116 
agriculture, 122, 133 
area and population, 104 
climate, 106, et seq., 170, 379, 380 
colonize, attempts to, 143 
communications with mainland, 27, 

29, 53, 54, 108, 109, 331, 332, 

375 
convicts bound for, 1, 50, 59, 66, 

68 
, female, " civil marriage," 

141, 144, 146, 339 
, conditions of, 91, 337, 



339 



, flogging of, 340 

, numbers, 144 n., 146 

numbers, 85, 144 n., 341 

sentences, duration, 339 

discovery of, 93, 94 

" exile-settler," 155, 368, 394, 406 

, allowed choice of criminal 

wife, 141, 337 

, arbitrary Chief of, 310 

, a Swede, 124 

, Count Marovsk, 371 

, definition of, 122 n. 

, Miss de Mayer and, 394 

, murder of an, 125 

, small hope for, 339 



Sakhalin — continued. 

exiles, political, 317, 335, 341, 

342, 344, 346 
"free-command," 125, 126, 350 

, an energetic, 324 

, his position, 126, 337, 338 

geology, 112, 113, 161, 187 

Gilyak legends about, 100- 102 

history of, 93, et seq. 

home, a, 89 

Japanese connexion with, 117 

fisheries, 1 17, 188 

Jesuit Fathers and, 94-97 
journey into interior, 118, et seq. 

across by canoe, 136, et seq. 

judges, itinerary, 318 

Military Governor of, 78, 116, 402 

, interview with, 85, 

86, 334 
■ , report on prisoners' 

escape, 280, et seq. 

-, type of, required, 400 



military preparations, 79 
mountain passes, 126 

ranges, 76, 104, 126, 170 

origin of name, 96-98 
"peasants," 124, 339, 368, 396 

, definition of, 123 

prisoners, escapes of — 

, gang of five, 279, 353 

, great gang of 1896, 280 

, Grodiyanka, 152 

, six on our route, 323 

rivers, 104, 105 
Russian connexion with, 117 
taxation, no, 384 
Telegrams, 331 
village overseer, 138, 313 
was it a peninsula ? 94, 98, et seq. 
See also Alexandrovsk, Brodyagi, 
Fauna, Flora, Gilyak, Orochon, 
etc. 
Salmon-canning, 63 
Salomon, Mr. P. A., 144 
Salutora, 280, 282, 283 
Samara, 463 
Samarkand, 395 
Sand-dunes, 187, 204 



476 



INDEX 



Sayansk range, 453 
Sayots, 453 
Schliisselberg, 65, 345 
Schrenck, Dr., 167, 191, 208 
Seal Island, 176 
Seebohm, Mr., 287 
Selenga river, 455 

Semevsky, Mr. See Alexandrovsk dis- 
trict (Chief of). 
Shadoufs, 128 
Shaman, 234, et seq. 
Shilka river, 28-30, 49, 412 
Siebold, P. von., 99 
Sikhota Alin, 32, 50, 404 
Simpson, Dr. J. Y., 112 
Siraroka, 114 
Sizran, 463 
Slavo, 118, 127, 152, 303 

a stop at, 134-136, 310 
Somon river, 401 
Sophisk, 52, 53 
Sorio. See Fusan. 
Soups, Russian, 22, 314, 425 
Soya, Cape, 150 
Sredni Kolimsk, 342, 348 
Stallybrass, Mr., 454 
Steppe, 412, 423-425? 447> 460 
Sternberg, Mr., 167, 191, 259, 261, 262 
Stone implements, 335, 336 
Straits of Tartary, 27, 54, 62, 351 

, Amur and, 52, 53 

•, cessation of navigation, 76, 

108, 401 

, currents, 103, ill 

, dog-sledge mail, 108, et seq. 

, journey down, 74-76, 101 

, navigators in, 98, 99, 401, 

et seq. 
-, sealing in, 252 



Stretensk, 27-30, 49, 60 

Suh-shen, 407 

Suifun river, 31, 414 

Sungari river, 37, 39, 45 n., 412 

crossing, 421, 422 

, Russian navigation of, 410 

Steam Shipping Company, 418 
town, 417, 418 

Swan, Mr., 454 



Taiga, 120, 133 

description, 105 
plunge into, a, 295, 460 
prisoners' longing for, 15 1 
ride through, a, 308-313 
Russian encroachments on, 273 
under snow, 252 
Tannu Ola range, 453 
Tashkend, 65, 461 
Taulan, 284 

Tea, brick, 92, 175, 250, 252 
Telegrams, 18, 19, 64, 328, et seq., 

402 
Telyega, 123, 308, 371 
Tiara, Mount, 104 
Tikmenev, 114, 280, 281, 283 
Tim, river, 87, 113, 118, 126 

, ascent in canoe, 277, et seq. 

, camping on banks, 166, 

177, 180, 181, 184, 185, 291 

, descent in canoe, 135, et 

seq., 149, et seq. 

, fishing in, 155, 171 

, meaning of name, 104 

, native highway, 116 

native villages, 155, 161, 

172, 300 

— , rapids, 137, 140, 152, 293 
-, scenery, 136, 137, 155, 161, 



170, 171, 177, 278, 287, 292, 

295> 303 

, tributaries, 171 

, upper reaches, 226 

Timovsk district {okrug), 116, 133, 314 

, Chief of, 87, 182, 283, 314, 

et seq. 
Tir, 53 
Toichi, 114 
Tol ni vookhy 169, 243, 273 

, bear and, 201 

, deceased's spirit to, 243 

, offering to, 254 

, saved by, 293 

, the powerful, 249 

Tomsk, 342, 459, 460 
Tondon (Dundun), 95 
Tonchi. See Toichi. 
Trans-Baikalia, 31, 117,445, 456 



INDEX 



477 



Trans-Baikalian Railway, 30, 406, 413, 

44 2 > 455 
Trans-Siberian Railway, 27, 30, 455-464 
Trigoni, Mr., 345, 346 
Tsintau, s.s., 73, 75, 78 
Tsitsikar, 412, 423-428 

New, 428, 429 

s.s., 398-404 
Tsushima, 2 

Tumen river, 15, 411, 412 
Tun or Toung, 97 
Tundra, 103, 108, 184, 204 

causes of, 224 

description, 105 

of the Poronai valley, 285 
Tungus, 113, 224 

Maxim, the, 209, 210 

numbers, 116 

race, 115, 208, 257, 258, 408 

relations with Gilyaks, 258, 259, 
300 
Tunnels, 31, 416 
Turga river, 443 
Tur ni vookh, 260, 270 

, visit of deceased woman's 

spirit to, 243 



Ugovich, Colonel, 419 

Ukavo, 161 

Ukaz, 67, 337, 454 

Ural mountains, 456, 460-462 

Urga, 447, 450 

Uskovo, 123, 167, 168, 312 

Ussuri Railway, 26, 27, 30, et seq., 43, 

4I3> 4H 
Ussuri river, 44, 45, 412 



Val, New, 221, 226, 228, 230, 231 

Old, 215, 225 
Vanka, 156, 157, 164, 169, 246, 277, 

302, 306 
Vasiliv the Cannibal, 286 
Veng-kotan, 283 
Verkhne Udinsk, 445, 449, 455 
Verkhniy Armudan, 126 
Verkhoyansk, 106, 107 



Villages, Russian, isolation of, 463 

Siberian, 50-52, 117, 126, 128, 309 
Vitim district, 224 
Vladimirsk, 398, 399 
Vladivostok, 1, 15, 77, 405 

climate, 23, 107 

connexion with Sakhalin, 53, 330, 
401 

description, 1 7, et seq. 

escape to, from Blagovestchensk, 

42,43 

hotels, 19, 21, 22 

imports, 33 

Koreans at, 14 

naval base, 24, 44, 57 

routes from, 27-31, 412, 413 

tariff and, 24, 25 
Volga, 463 

Vrassky, Galkin, Mr., 143 
Vries, Captain Martin, 94, 98 
Vurkovo, 221 

Waddell, Mr., 451 
Warnings, 279, 323, 357, 358 
Wheelbarrows, chained to, 340 
Wonsan. See Gensan. 

X., Mr., 80, 83, 88, 90, 139 

, accompanies me to the north- 
east coast of Sakhalin, 118, 
et seq. 

, engaged as my interpreter, 



82 



-, his cottage at Due, 359 
-, schoolmaster at Arkovo, 89 

-, Due, 389 

-, the Caucasian and, 368 



Y., Mr., 119, 375, 391 

, ex-convict and bank agent, 

328 

, his story, 80, et seq. 

sledging experience, 56 



Yablonoi range, 445, 462 
Yablonovaya station, 445 
Yakimova, Taisia, 346 
Yakuts, 113, 276 



478 



INDEX 



Yakutsk, 56, 57, 113 

Yalu river, 412 

Yamshtchik, 311, 323 

Yarosiav, -s.s. t 1, 345, 348, 368, 397 

Yashi station, 435 

Yeddo, 99 

Yenesei river, 113 

Yermak, 94 

Yezo, 78, 94, 98, 99, 104, 188 

Ainus, 97, 114, 165 

pigmies and dwellings, 97, 115, 191 



Yih-len or Yih-lou, 191, 407 
Yuensan. See Gensan. 
Yuille, Mr. and Mrs., 454 
Yuko/a, 135, 196, 211 
Yungkin, 204, 216, 242, 273 
his "great city," 259 
steals a wife, 263 

Zakuska, 315, 442 
Zhook, Mr., 144, 369 
Zlato-ust, 31, 461 



THE END. 



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